5 February

This article was published on 28 January 2026. At the time of publishing, this article was true and accurate, however, over time this may have changed. Some links may no longer work. If you have any concerns about this please contact us.

Time to Talk Day is on 5th February. It’s run by Mind and Rethink Mental Illness, in partnership with the Co-op. For more details click here.

The day is about creating supportive communities by having conversations with family, friends, or colleagues about mental health. We all have mental health. By talking about it, we can support ourselves and others.

The more conversations we have about mental health the more barriers we can break down and the closer we’ll come to ending mental health stigma and discrimination.

Mental health problems affect one in four of us, yet it can lead to many people feeling isolated, ashamed, and worthless. 

Time to Talk Day encourages everyone to be more open about mental health, to talk, to listen, to improve lives. Every conversation brings us a step closer to ending the feelings that too many of us experience.  Poor mental health can affect anyone, of any age, gender, or background.

Starting a conversation with someone around their or your own mental health can feel uncomfortable. You may be worried that you will say the wrong thing but remember saying nothing is far worse.

Here are some tips on helping others

• Ask someone twice how they are feeling, this will give them the opportunity to be honest and to realise that you genuinely want to know.
• Listen and don’t judge, it’s great that people are happy to talk to you about how they are feeling, so ensure you really listen to them.
• Ask how long they have felt this way.
• Ask if there is anything you can do to help.
• Ask what support they need. Provide them with details of professional organisations, who may be able to help.
• Treat them in the same way, don’t change the way you act towards someone once you are aware of their poor mental health.
• Little gestures can have a big impact, this maybe just going for a walk, watching a film, or just having a cuppa together.

The emotional wellbeing of children and young people is just as important as their physical health, just as it is for adults. Good mental health will allow them to develop the resilience to cope with life’s ups and downs and to grow into well-rounded, healthy adults.

Like adults, children will respond to situations in different ways, such as being more clingy, anxious, withdrawn, or angry. Try to respond to your child’s reactions in a supportive way, listen to their concerns and give them extra care and attention. Remember to listen to your children and re-assure them.

For more details on supporting your children’s mental health click here.

Time to Talk Day isn’t just about helping others, it’s also about thinking about your own wellbeing.

According to the Police Federation, research has shown that emergency services workers are twice as likely as the public to identify problems at work as the main cause of their mental health problems, but they are also significantly less likely to seek help. So, it’s even more important to look after your own mental health when working on the frontline.

Here are some tips

• Think about your purpose: be clear about why you are doing this job.
• Be clear on expectations: make sure you know what is expected of you and whether it is realistic.
• Keep your boundaries: establish clear boundaries between work and personal life, don’t take work home with you.
• Talk to colleagues: make time to talk to your colleagues about your experiences and share fears and concerns.
• Value your own family and relationships: while work is important, your family and relationships need to be valued.
• Keep active: regular exercise can boost your self-esteem, can help you concentrate, relax, and increase your overall wellbeing. This can be as simple as a regular walk, being outside in nature can also help improve your mental health.
• Get plenty of sleep: sleep helps regulate the chemicals in our brain that transmit information. These chemicals are important in managing our moods and emotions and an imbalance in those chemicals can result in us becoming depressed or anxious. Read our sleep guide here.
• Eat well: A balanced diet that is good for your physical wellbeing is also good for your mental wellbeing. Your brain needs a mix of nutrients to stay healthy and function well. Read our healthy eating guide here.
• Avoid alcohol: The numbing effects of drinking are only temporary and can often lead to mental health issues. Alcohol can also damage the immune system. Try to adopt positive coping strategies such as talking, going for a walk, or listening to music instead. If you do drink, try to stay within the recommended unit guidelines.
• Keep in touch: it’s good for you to catch up with friends and family.
• Take a break: a change of scenery or pace is good for you. Make sure you take time to relax and re-charge.
• Do something you’re good at: doing something you enjoy, and you are good at can give you the ‘feel good’ boost that everyone needs. Enjoying yourself can help beat stress.
• Care for others: supporting others uplifts you as well as them.
• Ask for help: sometimes you need help from others, so don’t be afraid to ask for help, from a family member or friend, your GP, or a professional organisation, see the list at the end of this guide for more details.

Mental health conversations have the power to make a big difference, but sometimes these conversations can bring up some difficult things that people may not have spoken about before. This might mean that they need some support.

It’s important to seek professional advice as soon as possible and not wait until it’s more difficult to find a solution.

If you feel a loved one, colleague or you need additional support, contact a GP, a counselling professional or one of the organisations below:

• Samaritans
• Mind
• NHS
• AnxietyUK
• Mental Health Org

We’ve teamed up with PayPlan*, one of the UK’s leading free debt advice providers, who offer free and confidential advice to anyone in serious financial difficulties.  They’re able to advise you on a range of debt solutions suited to your individual circumstances, helping to protect you and your family with a sustainable way to manage your debt. Get free and confidential help to combat your debt, call PayPlan* on 0800 197 8433

*PayPlan is a trading name of Totemic Limited. Totemic Limited is a limited company registered in England, Company Number: 2789854. Registered Office: Kempton House, Dysart Road, PO Box 9562, Grantham, NG31 0EA. Totemic Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Financial Conduct Authority Number: 681263

4 February

This article was published on 27 January 2026. At the time of publishing, this article was true and accurate, however, over time this may have changed. Some links may no longer work. If you have any concerns about this please contact us

World Cancer Day on 4th February, is a day that unites people, communities, and entire countries to raise awareness and take action.

World Cancer Day is led by the UICC, the Union for International Cancer Control. It is one singular initiative under which the entire world can unite together in the fight against the global cancer epidemic.  For more details click here.

Being diagnosed with cancer is likely to cause lots of worries and fears not just for yourself but also, for your loved ones. It’s scary, and you may be having all sorts of thoughts, including which treatment will I need, will I die, how will I look after my family, will I be able to work, how will I pay the bills, or you may just feel numb and not be able to think of anything.  Everyone is different. You may feel out of control and experiencing high levels of pain.

When going through cancer treatment, it’s not just your body which is affected; it will also put a strain on your mental health. Having lengthy and intensive treatment can dominate your own and your families lives.

Worrying about the future, having to attend many hospital appointments, and maybe undergoing operations, not knowing how you’re going to feel each day, and even telling people that you’re going through treatment, can make some people very anxious.

Feeling anxious is an understandable response to the trauma you’re going through. The symptoms of which vary and may include an accelerated heart rate, trembling, nausea, muscle tension, inability to relax and insomnia.

When it comes to recovery, thinking about your mental health is as important as getting well physically.  So, don’t ignore your worries and make time to talk them through. Ensure you have a good support network of loved ones around you, as this is beneficial to your overall mood and progress. It’s also important to seek support from your GP or healthcare professional if you need it. Some cancer survivors develop PTSD, which will require specialist treatment.

Having cancer can be very hard to cope with. When you are trying to cope with an illness there is no right or wrong way to feel. Everyone is different and you will deal with things in your own way. Cancer Research UK have produced information here on how to cope emotionally with your illness.

Self-care

Your recovery is about you, so you should make yourself the priority. Keeping up a good, but gentle health regime will help. Making sure you’re getting the right nutrition, getting a good night’s sleep, and doing the things you enjoy in between treatment sessions is vital and can really make a difference.

You may struggle to do exercise but getting outside in nature and going for a short walk each day, can help reduce your anxiety levels and boost your mood. 

Feeling sick and tired after treatments is very common, so it can be hard to maintain a varied diet.  Foods like soups, or easy to eat and digest foods like bananas are a good option. It’s vital to keep your body hydrated with water, which may help combat any feelings of nausea or fatigue.

Where you can it’s important to live as normal life as you can whilst going through treatment.

Of course, cancer recovery is not necessarily straightforward. There will be dark, painful, and sad days, but worst of all, there will be scary days. The main thing to remember is to use the support available to help get you through, and to make yourself the priority.

For more information on managing cancer symptoms and possible side effects from treatment, including pain, sickness, and diet problems. Cancer Research UK have produced a ‘Coping Physically with Cancer’ guide, click here to read.

Supporting a loved one with cancer

When someone close to you is diagnosed with cancer it may feel overwhelming and you may struggle to know how you can help and support them. Explain this to them and ask them what you can do to support them.

Regularly reach out to them, send them text messages, give them a call, meet them for a coffee or dinner. Remember even though they are going through treatment, they are still the same person. 

If you are a close family member and can be physically present to support them, offer lifts to appointments or even to attend appointments together. Offer to sit in on telephone appointments or help them to organise their treatment schedule.

If you have the time to offer practical support, offer to do the food shopping, the ironing or walk the dog.

While someone suffering from a long-term illness may not want to be overcome with bunches of flowers, there are lots of other gifts you can send that may help to brighten their day or give them the boost they need. These could be items to help them sleep like pillow sprays, body creams or nutritious food items or a nice treat, like chocolate.

If you are part of a wider family or group of friends, it may be worth arranging who will do what, so as not to overload your loved one but to ensure they receive regular contact from you all.

19 January 2026

This article was published on 05 January 2026. At the time of publishing, this article was true and accurate, however, over time this may have changed. Some links may no longer work. If you have any concerns about this please contact us

Blue Monday is the name given to the third Monday of January every year. It is claimed to be the most depressing day of the year. The reasons for this include factors like the cold, wet weather, short daylight days, Christmas debt, the time elapsed since your last pay day, Christmas seems like a distant memory, you’ve already failed with your New Year’s resolutions, and it feels like a long time until the summer. For most of us this means our motivational levels are low.  In more recent years, the day has been re-named as Brew Monday, in order to encourage people to spend some time talking to each other whilst having a cuppa.

January is usually the month when you understand just how much Christmas has cost you. Every year, thousands of us dread the credit card bills arriving and this is when the financial hangover from Christmas become reality. This is to be expected, as Christmas is the most expensive time of the year, with many people using their credit cards and overdrafts to pay for the festivities. If this has affected you this year, read our Winter Wellbeing guide here.

Many people don’t believe Blue Monday is real and that it’s just a marketing plan to help sell more summer holidays, but we do know that during the winter months, with shorter, darker days we generally spend more time indoors, which can have a negative impact on our   mental health. Some people suffer from seasonal affective disorder (SAD) which can increase depression and anxiety. With January coming straight after the highlight of Christmas and also for many a month where the Christmas spending credit card bill has arrived, it’s not surprising that January tends to be the least favourite month of the year for many people. It is therefore vital that you make an effort to protect your wellbeing.

Stress and anxiety can be caused by many things, not just financial worries, including, work deadlines, relationship problems and home life.

Stress isn’t a mental health condition, but it may lead to one, like anxiety or depression or it can cause an existing one to get worse. Stress can also affect you physically, it can cause headaches, insomnia, tiredness or stomach problems.

For more information on managing worries and stress read our guide here.

Some ways you can combat Blue Monday

Sunlight

Natural light helps stabilise serotonin and triggers endorphins, both mood-boosting hormones. Try to get outside as much as you can during the day to give your wellbeing a positive boost.

Be sociable

You can achieve this without spending lots of money. You could host game and movie nights for your friends, this could be virtual, regularly talk to your loved ones or go for a walk with a friend.

Set achievable targets

If you’re struggling to keep your New Year’s resolutions, re-set them now or set a new goal to achieve around Blue Monday.

Be realistic

Understand that you may feel low during January, the reasons why this is the case and that’s its ok to not be ok and it should pass. If it doesn’t or how you are feeling is more than just the January blues, then talk to someone and get some help.

Exercise

Walking, swimming and cycling will boost endorphins and will leave you feeling calmer and happier.

Money & Stress

With money worries being one of the largest wellbeing challenges facing us during January, it’s important to start talking about money worries before your situation gets worse.

Worrying about money can negatively affect your mental health and for those people experiencing mental health problems it makes it harder to manage their finances.

The stress of dealing with financial pressures does not just affect your personal life. It can affect your work, family life, health, and relationships. It’s therefore important to talk about money worries.

• For more tips on how to spend less read our guide here.
• For more details on debt, read our debt awareness guide here.

Where to get help

• NHS

• Samaritans

• Mind

• AnxietyUK

• Mental health org

Worrying about money can be extremely stressful and may lead to mental health conditions. Police Mutual are here to help.  We want to break down the stigma surrounding debt and get people talking about money.

We’ve teamed up with PayPlan*, one of the UK’s leading free debt advice providers, who offer free and confidential advice to anyone in serious financial difficulties.

They’re able to advise you on a range of debt solutions suited to your individual circumstances,

helping to protect you and your family with a sustainable way to manage your debt.

Get free and confidential help to combat your debt, call PayPlan* on 0800 197 8433.

To read more of our wellbeing guides take a look at our Wellbeing Hub here.

*PayPlan is a trading name of Totemic Limited. Totemic Limited is a limited company registered in England, Company Number: 2789854. Registered Office: Kempton House, Dysart Road, PO Box 9562, Grantham, NG31 0EA. Totemic Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Financial Conduct Authority Number: 681263.