Music connects us, moves us, and can help us express how we’re feeling when words are hard to find.
This Mental Health Awareness Week, the Mental Health Foundation are joining with Greatest Hits Radio to highlight music as one of the many everyday ways people can support their mental health and take action.
Say it Through a Song: music and mental health
Music can be a great way to support our wellbeing. It can lift our mood, help us process emotions, bring back memories, and remind us that we’re not alone.
Whether it’s:
- a song that helps you switch off
- singing along in the car
- dancing at a gig
- or sharing music with someone you care about
These moments can support our mental wellbeing in simple but meaningful ways. Music can offer comfort when things feel heavy or bring joy, energy and connection when we need it most.
Through Say it Through a Song, we’re celebrating music as one of the many everyday tools we can all use to give our mental health a boost.
Mental Health Awareness Week 2026: Action
Talking about mental health matters. But in 2026, we’re focusing on what comes next.
The theme of Mental Health Awareness Week 2026 is Action, because real change happens when awareness becomes something we do, not just something we talk about.
For 25 years the Mental Health Foundation has led Mental Health Awareness Week, helping to challenge stigma and open up conversations across the UK. That growing openness has made it easier for people to speak honestly about how they’re feeling and reach out for support.
Now, we’re inviting everyone to take the next step and turn awareness into action.
Action starts with us
Looking after our mental health isn’t just about big gestures. Often, it’s the small, everyday actions that make the biggest difference.
- Making time to connect.
- Checking in on a friend.
- Moving your body (maybe to your favourite tunes!).
- Taking moments of calm.
- Sharing how you really feel.
These small actions can reduce stress, build resilience, and remind us that none of us has to cope alone.
When we take action together, we help create kinder, more supportive communities with places where people feel seen, valued and able to thrive.
Small actions. Big impact.
Taking action can help us feel more hopeful and less powerless. It supports our own mental health and helps build healthier communities, workplaces and schools around us. And when lots of people take action together, that collective energy can lead to lasting change.
Find an action
Join us this Mental Health Awareness Week
This Mental Health Awareness Week, we’re inviting you to:
- Take action to support your own mental health
- Look out for others and strengthen your community
- Use music, connection and creativity as tools for wellbeing
Every action counts.
Find support
If you're struggling with your mental health, find services and organisations that offer help and support to people with mental health problems.
Get help
About the Mental Health Foundation
At the Mental Health Foundation we believe that everyone deserves good mental health. To make that happen we’re thinking differently and changing the national conversation from managing mental ill health to preventing it. Because we can't just treat our way out of the crisis, we've got to tackle the root causes and prevent people becoming unwell in the first place.
We’re pioneering ground breaking research to understand what causes poor mental health and taking on the big issues that we know are having a big impact. We're campaigning for the changes we need from our governments to create a society that protects our mental health instead of harming it. And we're giving people the knowledge and tools they need to look after their own mental health and support the people around them.
Through this work we can break the cycles that harm those most at risk, especially young people. And together, we can make sure that everyone in the UK can live with good mental health. Join us.