How are you?… It is a simple question and one we often answer without thinking… “I’m fine.” Sometimes we are. But sometimes “fine” is just the easiest answer because we are not sure what else to say.
We might not have the words to explain how we are feeling. We might not want to make a conversation uncomfortable. We might worry that we will be asked questions we do not know how to answer or that someone will try to reassure us before we have had a chance to explain what is actually going on. And sometimes, we might not even fully understand our own experience yet.
This year’s World Mental Health Day theme is “Lived experiences heard: real voices, real change.” It highlights the importance of listening to people who have experienced mental health difficulties and recognising that their experiences hold knowledge and value.
For me, the word “heard” is particularly important because being heard is about much more than just listening to the words someone says.
What does it mean to really be heard?
When someone tells us they are struggling, our instinct can sometimes be to help; we reassure, we offer advice, we tell them about something similar that happened to us or we try to find a solution. These responses usually come from a good place, we want the person to feel better and we want to know that we have done something useful, but sometimes what someone needs first is not an answer. They need someone to be open to understanding their experience without immediately trying to change it.
Mental health experiences can be complicated. Two people can experience the same diagnosis in completely different ways, while someone else may experience difficulties that do not fit neatly into a diagnosis at all.
Anxiety, for example, might be described as excessive worry, but one person might experience it as a constant sense of dread, while for another it could show up as physical tension, irritability or an inability to switch their thoughts off.
There is not one correct way to experience or communicate distress and lived experience gives us something that a definition in a textbook cannot. It gives us an insight into what something can actually feel like from the inside. Sometimes the most helpful thing we can offer another person is simply the space to describe that experience in their own way.
When you don’t have the words
Feelings are not always easy to translate into language; you might know that something does not feel right but struggle to explain why. You might feel overwhelmed without being able to identify exactly what is overwhelming you or experience emotions that seem to contradict one another. You might have spent so long putting your feelings to one side that you are not even sure where to begin.
Therapy does not require you to arrive with a clear explanation of what is wrong. Understanding can develop through conversation, unfold over time or begin through another way of exploring an experience.
This is where (when it feels appropriate for the individual) I may incorporate creative therapy into sessions. Creative approaches can offer another way to explore thoughts, feelings and experiences alongside talking therapy. This might involve drawing, colour, imagery, collage, writing or metaphor.
You do not need to consider yourself creative and there is no expectation to produce something artistic. The value is in the process and what it might help you notice or express.
Sometimes an image, colour or piece of writing can communicate something that feels difficult to put into words. For some people, creating something can also provide enough distance to make an experience easier to explore.
It is one of many options within therapy, one that can be used alongside conversation when it feels helpful. Ultimately, you remain in control of what you create, what you share and how much you want to explore.
Lived experience matters
There is something powerful about being able to say, “someone understands.” Not because another person has experienced exactly the same thing, but because they have taken the time to listen without reducing your experience to a label, a solution or a comparison.
Lived experience reminds us that mental health is not something that can always be understood from the outside. Someone may know exactly what they are struggling with, have no idea or understand it one day and feel completely confused by it the next. They may want to talk about it or they might need a lot of time to pass before they can.
As a therapist, I spend time listening to people talk about anxiety, grief, change, relationships, overwhelm and the experiences that have brought them to therapy. But I am also human and I have not arrived at this work without my own experiences of struggling with my mental health. I know that you can understand something logically and still find it incredibly difficult to navigate emotionally. I also know how easy it can be to keep going, keep functioning and convince yourself that you are fine, even when something does not feel right.
Therapy can provide a space to slow things down, become curious about what is happening and begin to make sense of experiences that may have felt difficult to understand alone. For some people, that might involve talking, for others it might include creative exploration. Sometimes it might involve sitting with something that has not yet found the right words. There is not one way to do therapy, just as there is not one way to experience mental health.
How can we listen differently?
World Mental Health Day is not only an opportunity to think about our own mental health. It can also encourage us to consider how we respond when someone tells us they are struggling. We do not always need the perfect thing to say or to have experienced the same thing and we do not need to solve the problem. We just need to make space.
Rather than immediately reassuring someone that everything will be okay, we could ask, “What has this been like for you?” We can stay curious about what makes their experience their own, without comparing it to something we have been through and allow them time to think without rushing to fill a silence.
Being heard does not always mean having a long conversation. Sometimes it means knowing that there is someone who will listen when you are ready.
World Mental Health Day 2026
World Mental Health Day takes place on 10th October 2026. This year’s theme, “Lived experiences heard: real voices, real change,” is a reminder that the people who have experienced mental health difficulties have something important to contribute to the way we understand, discuss and respond to mental health. Their experiences matter. Their voices matter and listening needs to be more than a one-day activity.
Perhaps this year’s theme can encourage a little more curiosity about the experiences we cannot see and a little more willingness to listen without immediately trying to fix. It might mean checking in with someone you care about. It might mean giving yourself permission to acknowledge something you have been finding difficult, starting a conversation you have been putting off or asking yourself how you really are and giving yourself enough space to listen to the answer.
Further support and resources
World Mental Health Day is a useful opportunity to start conversations, but support and information are available throughout the year.
World Health Organization (WHO)
The WHO’s World Mental Health Day 2026 campaign explores this year’s theme, “Lived experiences heard: real voices, real change,” and focuses on ensuring that people with lived experience have a meaningful role in shaping mental health services, policies and decisions.
Explore the WHO World Mental Health Day 2026 campaign.
WHO is also hosting a World Mental Health Day webinar on 9 October 2026, bringing together people with lived experience and mental health organisations to explore how lived experience can influence mental health policy and practice.
Find out more about the WHO World Mental Health Day webinar.
Mind
Mind’s 2026 World Mental Health Day campaign focuses on access to mental health support through its “See Me Now” campaign. Mind also provides information and practical support around a wide range of mental health difficulties.
