Mindful Monkey is here to contribute to a discussion of how we can find a way to be well in the world that we find ourselves in. So this article in the Guardian really brings things into sharp focus. It says:

Mental health services are “straining at the seams” to cope with the growing number of people with mental illnesses, according to a report published on Monday. As well as the immense distress caused to the millions of people with mental ill-health and their families, mental disorders cost the economy more than £100bn a year, according to calculations by the Mental Health Foundation. And unless the prevalence of mental illness falls, 2 million more adults and 100,000 more children will need treatment in 2030 compared with the figures for this year.

More effort needs to be put into preventing mental illness in the first place, said Bhugra, who is also the president-elect of the World Psychiatric Association and co-chair of the panel that drew up the report.

“Lacking a ‘cure’ for mental illness, a reduction in the number of people across the UK developing mental disorders appears to us to be the only way that mental health services will adequately cope with demand in 20-30 years’ time,” he said.

via Mental health treatment is stretching services to the limit, report warns | Society | The Guardian.

This last point is very important, it is talking about prevention. And we know that there is rapidly accumulating evidence that regular Mindfulness practice improves mental health. Mindfulness classes and resources are becoming increasingly popular. Watch this space for our Mindfulness Classes; in the meantime feel free to go to our ‘Downloads’ page and get started.