Guest Column: Having the courage to get help is the best thing for mental health issues

From depression to anxiety, anger to eating disorders, there are lots of different types of mental health problems and they can affect anyone at any time.

I responded to a Facebook post by a constituent last week who was suffering with suicidal feelings and who wrote that he had recently planned to take his own life.

Instead of going through with his plan, he bravely decided he needed help and reached out to those who could help him.

He was put on new medications by a doctor and let the people he cares about know how he was feeling on social media.

He said that talking about his problems makes him feel like he can beat this problem.

I told him that I admired his courage.

It is not easy to tell people about your mental health problems, but reaching out for help is a huge step in getting better.

After hearing some awful stories of constituents whose lives are being made a misery by anti-social behaviour, I raised the issue in Parliament, urging the Government to look at clamping down on this issue.

I also invited the local neighbourhood policing team’s Sgt Carl Holland to speak to me about anti-social behaviour in Ashfield.

He updated me on action that has been taken locally, including a three-month closure order on a house on the Coxmoor estate, whose residents had been making life a nightmare for people, and convicting some youths, who were repeatedly causing a nuisance on the Coxmoor estate, of public order offences.

Sgt Holland said that the most important thing is that anyone who is affected by anti-social behaviour should report the incidents to either the police, the council or myself.

Even if people don’t want to stand up in court and be official witnesses, there are steps the police can take to make things better.

Email me at [email protected] if anti-social behaviour is affecting you.