Almost everyone can say at some point in their life they have struggled with their mental health, whether that be only slightly or massively. Especially after Covid-19 and all of the lockdowns that came along with it, the mental health crisis is bigger than ever and sadly, affecting more age groups than ever before. As a result of this, services have become increasingly overwhelmed with the amount of people needing their help but due to lack of government funding, they have been unable to accommodate for most people. This leads to other people becoming affected too such as the family and friends of the person needing help, leading to an even bigger problem. Without the correct funding, this crisis will become larger and larger until it comes to a point that seems unable to be tackled, this is why this funding is so urgent.

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*content warning*

On average each year, around 800,000 people die by suicide which equates to one person every 40 seconds. As this is being written, there has already been over 300,300 suicides this year (within 4 months). If figures keep increasing as they are, there will be more suicides this year than there averagely would compared to other years (source). This doesn't take into account all of the people who also attempt suicide, if it did the figures would be drastically higher.

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Change needs to happen now before it's too late.

If you or someone you know is feeling helpless, here are some links which could be helpful:

- Samaritans or call 116 123 (available 24hrs, 365 days a year)

- Shout or text 'SHOUT' to 85258

- Childline or call 0800 1111 (under 19s)

- Mental Health Foundation