If you're angry about mental health services, don't waste your chance to make a difference

There is merit in talking about stigma, but people in crisis need access to real support – and this is how you can help to make that happen

It’s World Mental Health Day, and with it will no doubt come the usual remarks from critics around there being “more need for services than conversations” and how “mental health has become a trend”. But before any critics who happen to be reading this tune out, let’s think about how we can use this incredible social media “trend” more effectively.

Of course simply talking about mental health does not magically increase services – but given that MPs rely on popularity, surely awareness days can be used to actually effect change. Considering the number of people involved in supporting World Mental Health Day, I’d say that activists have got a pretty captive audience to engage with.

I do believe in the national Time to Change campaign, which is run in collaboration with the charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness, and appreciate that there is some merit in simply talking. It is powerful, it does tackle stigma and it does support people’s recovery.

Stigma around mental health can create discrimination, but if we “out” it as an issue and build public support, it’s much harder for those attempting to discriminate to get away with it. In fact, a report commissioned by Time to Change shows that average levels of reported discrimination fell from 41.6 per cent to 28.4 per cent between 2008 and 2014. Not insignificant, I’m sure you’ll agree.

But the fact remains that people still need access to services. Campaigns like Time to Change often fail to get to the root of immediately improving mental health provision. Not-for-profit organisations carry a lot of weight, but they are often unable to be as bold as they’d like to be politically as they need to be sure they will be keep being invited to the table to make their case.

We as supporters are the people who can make a big difference. We can support these organisations’ objectives in a bolder way. As individuals, rather than professional organisations, we really have nothing to lose.

Case in point: the TV presenter Sean Fletcher, after raising awareness (you know, the talking bit) about dangerous funding shortages for child and adolescent mental health services within his Panorama programme, "Kids in Crisis", has consistently pressed the health and social care secretary, Matt Hancock, for a meeting. What with all the buzz around the programme’s screening, a huge online conversation was sparked – and Hancock’s notifications must have been enough to drive him to reply, because reply he did, thanking Fletcher for sharing his story, and admitting that it is “vital that we do more to ensure children have the mental health support they need” in the process”.

Fletcher is still pressing for that meeting, but now he’s got even more weight behind him since the programme caught the attention of the British public.

Instead of dissing mental health awareness days, you too, can use the power of the conversation to make change happen. If you want enough evidence to make a case to your local MP, simply follow the awareness day hashtag (#WMHD2018) and you’ll find some pretty strong testimonies. Write to your MP, lobby MPs on social media, and garner the support of those we know are understanding of the cause: Luciana Berger, the shadow minister for mental health; Karl Turner, who tragically lost his nephew to suicide and spoke out in the House of Commons about the six month waiting list his nephew was told to face; Heidi Allen, who campaigned to protect benefits for those of us with mental health problems.

Or you can use the day to tap into social media’s mental health activists – the ones standing up and making demands – for all of us. See what they’re petitioning on and sign and share. This week, the campaigner Natasha Devon (along with Luciana Berger and Bauer Media) took the "Where’s Your Head At" petition to parliament, sparking a debate about parity between physical and mental health with regards to workplace first aid. Hope Virgo who is petitioning government to “dump the scales” when it comes to eating disorder criteria after being turned away for treatment when relapse came knocking loudly at her door. We’ve also seen Bobby Temps (the guy behind Mental Podcast) and The Shaw Mind Foundation both campaigning for compulsory mental health education in schools.

The activists will keep fighting and the personal testimonies will keep coming, and there’s a captive audience all thinking about mental health.

So, don’t pour scorn on awareness days – use them wisely. There’s a boatload of evidence landing in your lap about the lack of mental health services and the personal impact of that. So mobilise the conversation to make change. (It's @MattHancock on Twitter, by the way).