Awareness, loneliness, and demand for mental health services in the NHS

This week marks the 22nd annual mental health awareness week. Raising awareness helps to reduce the stigma of mental ill health and can help more people come forward to seek the support they need. It also helps to highlight the scale of mental ill health and unmet need, and strengthen the case for continued support and investment to improve and expand mental health services.

Raising awareness feels more important than ever this year amid widespread concern about a host of issues both at home and abroad and the impact of these on people’s mental health, as well as their impact on the level of focus and priority we give to mental health at a national level.

The theme for this year’s awareness week is loneliness, and mental health trust leaders have long been concerned about its impact: our pre-pandemic survey found 97% of trust leaders who responded identified loneliness and isolation as having an impact on increasing demand for services.1

Not only is loneliness a driver of demand—with chronic feelings of loneliness associated with increased risk of depression, anxiety, psychological distress, and substance misuse—but longstanding and widespread challenges in accessing services can also bring on or exacerbate loneliness among people with mental health needs. It …