Someone advised me that ‘just talking’ to someone is not volunteering. We agreed to differ because nothing makes a bigger difference than being there to support another human being. This is why Time to Talk Day on this Thursday 4th February is such a fantastic campaign to challenge the myths about mental health. 

The same person also asserted that as a middle aged man I would not understand what mental health means, it’s not something I could possibly have experienced. That is the greatest mental health myth of all. Mental health does not discriminate, nobody is immune. It is also not a relative concept, there is no safe level and without talking the route back can be a tough one.   

Fixing a fence, planting a tree, building a play ground or reading someone’s CV all make a real difference. But so does talking with someone. The human mind is like a ploughed field, it does not care what it grows. Seeds of fear or anxiety will grow as easily as seeds of hope and optimism. Talking is the early weeding of the fears and anxieties before they are allowed to grow too big. I know from my conversations with our business partners and community leaders that there has never been a greater need for people to talk to each other about how they feel. Helping people to talk to people has been our mission for fourteen amazing years and helping build a better tomorrow is a true privilege. Captain Sir Tom Moore was right, ‘Tomorrow will be a Good Day’, because that is was what he believed.  #timetotalk