THIS week, Dame Cheryl Gillan, MP for Chesham and Amersham, writes exclusively to Bucks Free Press readers:

Thursday 10th October was World Mental Health day and the message from the organisers of this global awareness event was straightforward. Each of us can make a contribution to ensure that people dealing with problems concerning mental health can live better lives with dignity.

In this country, Public Health England, in partnership with the NHS, launched an initiative – Every Mind Matters – designed to help people take simple steps to look after their mental health, improve their mental well-being and to support others. How common are mental health problems? Mind, the UK charity, published statistics drawn from the 2016 national survey about mental health, in 2017.

This states: “Approximately 1 in 4 people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year, while in England 1 in 6 people report experiencing a common mental health problem (such as anxiety and depression) in any given week.”

Whilst the main national survey takes place once every seven years, a new survey from Public Health England states that more than 8 in 10 people have experienced early signs of poor mental health. These include feeling anxious, stressed, having low mood or trouble sleeping in the past 12 months. More than a quarter of people feeling this way waited at least six months before taking any action – but, after seeking help, three-quarters of them wished they had done something about it earlier.

Every Mind Matters sets out the simple steps that people can take to create a personalised action plan.

It recognises that taking care of our mental health is as important as maintaining good physical health. Building simple things into daily life can create a self-care programme – such as doing breathing exercises which can lower stress, reframing unhelpful thoughts, taking enjoyable exercise or connecting with others, to prevent more serious future problems.