Everyone’s vision of Christmas is different. For some, it’s about perusing the Waitrose food brochure (12 Festive Balkava anyone?), untangling the fairy lights for 35 minutes and screaming the words to Wizzard’s ‘I wish it could be Christmas every day.’ For others, it’s arguing with a partner over spending priorities, ruminating about how to survive in the wake of loss, or battling addiction when alcohol seeps its way into every social event.

There were 5,583 suicides in 2021 in England and Wales; 74% were males. According to a report by the World Health Organisation, there are two contributing factors to this tragic finding.

Events over the past few years (pandemic, war, cost-of-living) have presented umpteen challenges to our mental health and wellbeing. Stress research has flourished since Hans Selye labelled stress as a response nearly 70 years ago.

This article was written by Eleanor Burns who is the first intake on our Internship Programme. She took on the emotive topic of body image, which is the theme for this year's Mental Health Awarenss Week.