A staggering 1 in 4 people will experience mental health problems this year
Why are we raising awareness of mental health?
A staggering 1 in 4 people here in the UK will experience some kind of mental health problem over the course of a year. Regardless of age, gender, wealth or ethnicity - mental health problems can affect us all.
Despite it being so common, there's still a lot of fear and misunderstanding about mental health problems. Many myths surround this issue, making people afraid to ask for help. It's often not until someone hits a real crisis that they get support to cope - but thousands of people need a helping hand long before things reach crisis point.
Myths and stigma breed negative attitudes towards mental health. These attitudes make it very hard for people living with these problems to take part in their communities, find work and live their lives to the full.
Comic Relief cash has been supporting projects to help people with mental health problems for some time now and this year's Red Nose Day gives us a fantastic opportunity to raise everyone's awareness of this issue. This is a difficult subject that many people shy away from and we hope to change people's negative perceptions of mental health.
We are working with the BBC, key mental health organisations and other partners to raise awareness of how common mental health problems are and to encourage people to seek help when they need it. We also want to make sure that people get support to recover and lead full and active lives in their communities.
Real Stories
Meet people whose lives have been changed:
