This month we have been talking all about mental health.
October is World Mental Health Day so we themed our content around this. We gathered tips and stories, the community had the opportunity to ask a Clinical Psychologist mental health-related questions and we delved deeper into Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.
Stories from the community
As part of World Mental Health Day, some of our ambassadors recorded videos discussing things that they have done to help improve their mental wellbeing.
Supporting the mental wellbeing of you and your loved ones
The story below was an initiative from Sarahjane whose daughter has Huntington's disease. The idea behind it was to help improve the mental wellbeing of her daughter, Charlie, by asking friends and family to donate just one day a year of their time to Charlie after noticing isolation due to her progressing symptoms.
One day a year - World Mental Health Day
Mental health and Huntington's disease
Dr Akshay Nair is a Consultant Neuropsychiatrist at St. George's Hospital and the neuropsychiatry consultant for the SGH Huntington’s disease service. In this video, he talks about mental health symptoms, treatments, challenges, turning points, and why he advocates for better mental health support for his patients and the Huntington's community.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Huntington's disease
We have been working closely with Dr Sarah Gunn, a Lecturer in Clinical Psychology at the University of Leicester. Sarah and her team worked with members of our advisory service team to deliver better psychological support for the Huntington's disease community. The course is called 'Keeping yourself in mind' and aims to offer support to those affected by Huntington's by people who understand the disease.
Each course runs for eight weeks with eight to ten attendees and are aimed at both people living with or at risk of Huntington's disease and those who care for a loved one with Huntington's disease. So far, five courses have taken place, with two more in progress and attendees have stated that their anxiety has reduced by up to 54%. This has been a really positive result since launching this therapy.
You can find out more about Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and also read an update from the courses in the blogs below.
An update on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for people affected by Huntington’s disease
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: A different mental health approach for Huntington’s
Report
In November we published our mental Health report Unseen and Unheard: The need to improve mental healthcare for people living with Huntington’s disease