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This week is Mental Health Awareness Week, a national week raising awareness of mental health and the problems that thousands of people face on a daily basis. This year's theme is 'kindness' and, given our current global situation, being kind is more important now than ever.

A lot of us are anxious about the problems our world is currently facing. It's important to understand that many people are feeling the same way, and for most of us, these feelings will pass. A worldwide lockdown has prevented us from going about our daily lives, and for those with mental health problems, being stuck indoors with nowhere to go can be particularly triggering.

It's easy to see everything that is wrong with the world at the moment, but we must also look at how it has connected people in the most unexpected way. We're looking out for others more, helping out those less able than ourselves. It isn't a bad thing to ask for help, whether it be physical or mental, and that is one of the stigmas that Mental Health Awareness Week aims to remove.

With kindness being this year's theme, it's particularly poignant, as we have seen so many acts of kindness in the past few months alone. Being in a situation like this encourages people to pull together and help each other even more so than before. Let's aim to continue this throughout this pandemic and beyond, supporting those in need and making peoples' days that little bit better just by listening and talking because sometimes, that's all it takes.