Time to Talk Day

With grateful thanks to our blogger Annabelle.

1 February 2024

Time to Talk Day

Picture this. You’re catching up with a friend and you don’t know why but something seems off with them. On the outside they seem fine, however on the inside they’re really struggling and are begging for someone to help.

So you ask: Hey, you sure you’re okay?? Anything you want to talk about?? You know I’m here to listen and help.

Let’s talk. Something we all do. Something that in my opinion we take for granted sometimes. But talking is important. even if you don’t speak, your body language can talk VOLUMES for you. That why Time to Talk Day is so important. It’s the 1st of February this year and Time to Change launched this with Mind who has been running this since 2014 alongside Rethink Mental Illness (Another organization that help people with mental health and their rights in life.) (Rethink, 2019) Time to Talk Day is all about creating supportive communities by having conversations with family, friends, or colleagues about mental health. We all have mental health and by talking about it we can support ourselves and others and in that we can help someone get something off their chest no matter how big or small, it all helps. (timetotalkday.co.uk, 2014)

Another team who are very vocal about Time to Talk Day is Colchester United who are doing supporting Mid and North East Essex Mind by doing a Crisis Café at the Col U Stadium on the 3rd of February alongside the players of the football team who encourage football fans to keep talking to others about their mental struggles and wellbeing. (Gazette, 2024)

One in 4 of us are struggling with mental health issues. Think about that. That’s roughly 14 million people in the UK who are having mental health problems and with the Cost of Living Crisis that number has probably risen with costs going up, everything getting pricier and bills mounting, it can sometimes feel like too much.

Also I’m one of those people too. As a survivor of childhood trauma and someone who is on the Autism Spectrum this why talking about these things help, because I called Mind and they helped me. They helped me with my Autism Diagnosis, they helped me with therapy for my PTSD and thanks to Mid and North East Essex Mind I’m in such a better place mentally nowadays and I’ll happily admit it, Mid and North East Essex Mind are one of the reasons why I’m still here today. If I hadn’t called them and asked for help I reckon I’d either be in a horrible place mentally or I would have decided to have ended it all. So I’ll always be eternally grateful that charities like Mid and North East Essex Mind exist and other charities like Britain Get Talking and the Samaritans are here too. So that they can help others and help people to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Like the way Mid and North East Essex Mind helped me.

• Rethink (2019). Help and support for people affected by mental illness – Rethink Mental Illness. [online] Help and support for people affected by mental illness. Available at: https://www.rethink.org/ [Accessed 31 Jan. 2024].
• co.uk. (n.d.). About – Time to Talk Day. [online] Available at: https://timetotalkday.co.uk/about/. %5BAccessed 31 Jan. 2024].
• (2024). U’s fans encouraged to open up about mental health on Time to Talk Day. [online] Available at: https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/24086536.colchester-united-supporting-time-talk-day-saturday/ [Accessed 31 Jan. 2024]