Today marks World Mental Health Day with new research showing over 3 quarters of people believe more needs to be done to tackle issues surrounding mental illness.
The findings are from Lyons Tea, who have teamed up with suicide charity Pieta House for a new "Time to Talk" campaign promoting open discussion of mental health.
It will also involve contact information for the suicide charity printed on boxes of Lyons Tea for the month of October.
*47% of the nation have never talked to someone about their mental health
*Over three-quarters of adults think more could be done to help people with mental health issues
*40% think about their mental health regularly, but 43% only consider it from time to time
*Just under one in five (17%) say that they are not conscious of their mental health
*One in three have never taken steps to look after their mental health
*Embarrassment is a key barrier to preventing adults from speaking about their mental health
*Of those who have spoken to someone about their mental health, 84% agree that it has helped them with how they are feeling
Lyons Tea, which has been fuelling the nation’s conversation for decades, has today announced the findings of new research* exposing the mindset of Irish residents when it comes to mental health. Amongst these findings is the discovery that just over half of adults (52%) say they always make time to speak with someone when they need to with a surprisingly high 48% saying they should make more time to talk.
Lyons Tea is partnering with Pieta House, the Centre for Suicide, Self-Harm Prevention and Suicide Bereavement Services, to encourage more people to talk openly about their mental wellbeing. The study of over 1,000 Irish residents, conducted independently by iReach Insights, has revealed that Ireland is divided when it comes to keeping matters of mental health to ourselves.
Ahead of World Mental Health Day, Lyons Tea has investigated the Irish public’s attitudes to their mental wellbeing. 40% of adults think about their mental health regularly, however, just under one in five of those researched say that it’s not something that they are conscious of in their day to day life.
Amongst the factors cited by Irish residents as triggering mental health issues, were substance abuse (31%), trauma from the past (31%), loneliness (30%), loss of a loved one (26%), bullying at school or work (25%) or mortgage/rent problems (25%).
For those researched, embarrassment and not wanting to admit to having a problem have emerged as key barriers in preventing people from talking about their mental health. When asked to consider what would be crucial to getting people to talk, support from a loved one was cited as the main prompting factor for encouraging a conversation.
A third have confessed that they have never taken steps to mind their mental health, denoted in this research as participating in activities such as yoga, mindfulness sessions, counselling or meditation. Only 16% of people say that they frequently take steps to mind themselves, which is not that surprising given that a 22% of young adults in Ireland are reluctant to talk about any mental health issues that they may be experiencing.
