See the Person Not the Patient: Celebrating Mental Health Awareness Week with MIND
- Saira Naomi
- May 12
- 4 min read
Have you ever walked out of an appointment feeling like you weren’t really heard?
Like somebody saw a list of symptoms instead of you?
This year’s Mental Health Awareness Week, led by Mind, has the theme “See the person, not the patient” and honestly, I don’t think there’s ever been a message that sums up modern healthcare struggles more perfectly. It’s a call to recognise that mental health care is not just about clinical treatments or ticking boxes. It’s about human connection, empathy, and understanding the whole person behind the diagnosis. With the hashtag #nomindleftbehind, MIND invites us all to rethink how we support mental health in our communities.
Why Seeing the Person Matters
When someone struggles with their mental health, it can be very easy for the focus to land entirely on symptoms, labels, or quick assumptions.
Anxiety. Stress. Burnout. Depression. Hormones. Grief. Trauma.
But human beings are so much more complicated than a tick-box exercise.
We all carry experiences, pressures, responsibilities, relationships, worries and stories that shape how we feel. Sometimes what looks like “anxiety” on the surface is connected to something much deeper underneath.
For years, I was told many of my symptoms were “just anxiety”. I experienced heart palpitations, panic attacks, chest tightness, brain fog, exhaustion, overwhelm, emotional highs and lows, and periods of genuinely feeling unlike myself. And while anxiety absolutely became part of my experience, it wasn’t the whole story.
Eventually, after years of feeling dismissed and frustrated, I was diagnosed with perimenopause.
Looking back now, I think one of the hardest parts wasn’t even the symptoms themselves. It was the feeling of not quite being believed.
That’s why this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week message feels so important. People don’t just want solutions. They want to feel heard. They want somebody to sit down, listen properly, and look beyond the obvious.
Because sometimes seeing the person changes everything.
Mental Health Care Should Feel Human
One thing I love about MIND’s campaign this year is that it reminds us that mental health support doesn’t always come in the form people expect.
Sometimes it’s therapy, medication, or formal support services.
But sometimes it’s much smaller, quieter and more human than that. It’s the GP who takes an extra five minutes instead of rushing you out the door. It’s the therapist who asks what’s happened to you rather than simply what’s “wrong” with you. It’s the friend who notices you’ve gone quiet lately and checks in properly instead of just reacting to your Instagram story and disappearing again.
And honestly? Sometimes it’s simply somebody making you a cup of tea while you sit there overheating from the inside out like a human radiator wondering why you’re suddenly crying because somebody used the wrong tone asking if you wanted biscuits!
Humans need connection. We need empathy. We need understanding.
Mental health care should never feel cold or robotic.
The Overlap Between Women’s Mental Health and Hormones
One thing I’ve become incredibly passionate about through Pause & Rewind is helping women understand the huge overlap between hormones and mental health.
Perimenopause and menopause can affect anxiety levels, mood, sleep, concentration, confidence, emotional regulation and overall mental wellbeing. Yet so many women still feel dismissed, confused, or ashamed of what they’re experiencing.
One minute you feel completely fine. The next, your heart is racing, you’re snapping at everybody for breathing too loudly, your boobs are sweating for no apparent reason, and you’re Googling whether it’s normal to suddenly feel emotionally unstable because somebody moved your favourite mug.
It can feel frightening and isolating when you don’t understand what’s happening to your body and mind. And the reality is, many women are being treated for anxiety without anyone exploring whether hormones could also be playing a role. That doesn’t mean anxiety “isn’t real”. It absolutely is. But sometimes mental health symptoms and hormonal changes are tangled together in ways that can’t easily be separated.
That’s why being listened to properly matters so much.
My Story: Feeling Dismissed Before a Perimenopause Diagnosis
Earlier this year, I shared my own story publicly about the long journey to getting diagnosed with perimenopause after years of feeling dismissed. Like so many women, I started questioning myself. Was I overreacting? Was I imagining things? Was I just “not coping”?
When professionals repeatedly tell you it’s anxiety, you begin to doubt your own instincts, even when deep down you know something has changed.
Finally receiving answers didn’t magically fix everything overnight, but it did give me something incredibly important: validation. It reminded me how powerful it can be when somebody finally sees the whole person instead of reducing them to a label.
You can read more about my story here: Doctors dismissed symptoms for five years before perimenopause diagnosis.
How We Can Support Mental Health Better
Mental Health Awareness Week 2026 is a brilliant opportunity to think about how we support both ourselves and the people around us.
Sometimes the most meaningful things we can do are actually very simple:
Listening without immediately trying to “fix” things
Checking in on friends properly
Taking women’s health concerns seriously
Learning more about anxiety, hormones and mental wellbeing
Supporting organisations like Mind
Being a little gentler with ourselves when life feels overwhelming
Because no matter what somebody is going through, feeling seen and understood can make an enormous difference.
Final Thoughts
If there’s one thing I hope more people take away from Mental Health Awareness Week 2026, it’s this:
You deserve to be listened to properly.
Not rushed. Not dismissed. Not reduced to a label.
Whether somebody is struggling with anxiety, burnout, depression, grief, trauma, hormones, or simply trying to cope with life being a bit… life-y sometimes, the most powerful thing we can do is remember there’s a human being underneath it all.
And sometimes, feeling truly seen is the very first step towards healing.
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