Retirement- endless coffee mornings and afternoon telly. What’s the problem? The fact is, 15% of adults over the age of 60 suffer from a mental health disorder according to the World Health Organisation. Older people place importance on social interaction, making their own decisions and generally getting out and about; but what happens when this is derailed by physical illness, bereavement or loss of contact with friends and family?

When Emma Liddiard-Williams signed up for a Mindfulness course earlier this year, she wasn’t exactly sure what she signed up for or more interestingly, why she’d signed up in the first place.  In this blog, she explained what she found out about the popular self-therapy and whether it worked for her.

The days are getting shorter, the nights are getting darker and the mornings are getting colder. But hey, it’s not all bad! Instead of thinking of that numb nose and toes, just remember that the Christmas bells are ringing on the horizon. So while the next few months have the potential to cause as many blues days as Jamie Cullum, there’s no reason why it can’t be as productive and positive as any other time of year!

It’s International OCD Awareness week (9th – 15th of October), which provides us with an opportunity to improve public understanding of this debilitating condition.

Today is World Suicide Prevention Day – an annual awareness raising event organised by International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) and the World Health Organisation (WHO). In this blog I’ll be exploring 7 areas in which greater understanding could help save thousands of lives every year.

During the summer school holidays, the social rhythm of life can become as crazed as a Keith Moon drum solo. So it’s important to remember to switch off from time to time. Indeed, this is much more important to us than we may think, and science has some surprising things to say about which activities are best to help us recharge in the often limited time we have available. Here’s my rating of a number of popular restorative activities.