How Volunteering Supports Mental Health Recovery in Northern IrelandJustMentalTalk · Guest: Aislinn Byrne, Volunteer Now NI ·
There is a version of the conversation about volunteering that most people have heard. It goes something like this: volunteering is good for the community. It’s a selfless act. You give your time, and other people benefit. That version is true. But it’s also incomplete. Because what Aislinn Byrne from Volunteer Now NI describes in […]
Thomas Ta Walls: When Hitting Your Target Weight Doesn’t Fix the Depression
Thomas Ta Walls: When Hitting Your Target Weight Doesn’t Fix the Depression The story we are told about weight loss follows a reliable arc. Set a goal. Do the work. Hit the number. Feel better. The doctor says well done. Everyone around you says well done. You are supposed to feel it too. Thomas “Ta” […]
Stress Awareness Month 2026: NI’s Mental Health Crisis Goes Beyond Awareness | JustMental
Stress Awareness Month 2026: Why Awareness Alone Isn’t Enough for Northern Ireland Every April since 1992, Stress Awareness Month has tried to shift the national conversation about stress. The theme for 2026 is #BeTheChange. The intention is admirable. The gap between intention and reality is where JustMental lives. Because the statistics this year don’t s
The difference between not wanting your life to end, and not wanting it to continue
Our latest JustMentalTalk episode is one I want to tell you about properly. Clare spent 10 years in an abusive relationship. Not because she didn’t know better, but because she was in survival mode. Normalising what was happening. Keeping everyone else together. And somewhere along the way, losing herself completely. When the mental health crisis […]
World Bipolar Day 2026: The Number That Should Make Everyone Angry
30th March 2026 World Bipolar Day Nine and a half years. That is the average time a person in the United Kingdom waits between first speaking to a doctor about their symptoms and receiving a correct bipolar diagnosis. Not a few months. Not a year or two. Nine and a half […]
Lords Defeat Government on Social Media Ban — For the Second Time
The Lords Have Done It Again, And This Time the Government Admitted the Ban Is Coming The House of Lords has voted for the second time to back a ban on social media for children under 16 in the United Kingdom, and this time, the government’s own Technology Minister acknowledged in the chamber that action […]
Northern Ireland cannot tell you how many people are waiting for mental health care.
Last week, the Royal College of Psychiatrists Northern Ireland published their annual workforce census. It confirmed what many of us already suspected: 29% of consultant psychiatrist posts are either vacant or covered by locum doctors. 34% of specialist roles aren’t permanently filled. Northern Ireland has the highest psychiatry vacancy rate in the entire UK, wh
Historic Verdict: Meta and Google Found Liable for Children’s Mental Health Harm & What It Means for the UK
A Los Angeles jury has ordered the tech giants to pay $6 million in damages after finding their platforms were deliberately designed to be addictive to young users. JustMental examines why this matters far beyond California. In a verdict that marks a turning point in the global fight for mental health accountability, a Los Angeles […]
Different Brains. Not Broken. Never Broken.
This week, 16th to 22nd March 2026, marks Neurodiversity Celebration Week. It is a week that, on the surface, asks us to acknowledge and appreciate the full spectrum of human neurological difference. ADHD. Autism. Dyslexia. Dyspraxia. Dyscalculia. Tourette’s Syndrome. And many more besides. At JustMental, we do not simply acknowledge. We dig deeper. Because cele
Nearly a Third of NI’s Senior Psychiatry Posts Are Vacant, And Nobody’s Counting the People Waiting
New figures published today by the Royal College of Psychiatrists paint a sobering picture of mental health services in Northern Ireland, and one that should prompt urgent political action. According to the RCPsych’s latest workforce census, which gathered information in 2025 from all five health trusts in Northern Ireland, 29% of consultant psychiatry posts are