“Are You On Your Knees Yet?”

This week is Mental Health Awareness Week, which has so far consisted of me being sent a deluge of emails about Mental Health Awareness Week while life carries on wringing me out as it ever does. “Are you on your knees yet? No? Then keep going,” life yells. “Don’t stop until I can see the whites of your eyes.”

I’m being flippant. Yes my life is demanding, but whose isn’t? Thankfully, my mental health is good. But I’ve had enough experience of people with with poor mental health never to take this for granted. Which is why I wanted to raise the thorny issue of whether lifestyle PRs should be sending out emails about Mental Health Awareness Week. I’ve received hundreds. In addition to the predictable ones espousing the benefits of massage, gardening, wellness supplements, mattresses and CBD products, I’ve also been pitched less unlikely products such as storage facilities, memoir writing services, personal finance apps and bins.

Yes, bins. I mean, if you can link a bin to Mental Health Awareness Week, you can surely link anything.

My point: PRs should think carefully about piggybacking their products onto a topic as serious as mental health. Unless there is genuine synergy, the pitch usually comes off as tactless. You know what would really improve the country’s mental health? More investment in mental health services. Not a finance app, not a mattress, and definitely not a bin.