World Mental Health Day 2025: Collective Care for LGBTQ+ Wellbeing

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For this year’s World Mental Health Day, Tim Spoor FRSA MBE, CEO of LGBTQ+ mental health and wellness charity Queerwell (a charity we are honoured to support), shares a timely call to action: to look beyond awareness and toward real care – starting in our homes, our workplaces, and our communities.

This isn’t just about self-care. It’s about making sure no one is left behind. Whether you’re part of the LGBTQ+ community, an ally, or an employer, here are practical ways to support mental health with empathy, respect, and action.

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World Mental Health Day 2025: Healing, Resilience at Home and In The Workplace

Across the world, LGBTQ+ people are facing a silent pandemic – a crisis of trauma, burnout, and isolation in an increasingly hostile climate. Too many are left without access to support, while mainstream services remain overstretched and private care unaffordable.

The result? LGBTQ+ people are three times more likely to experience depression, anxiety, or self-harm, and more than half of LGBTQ+ young people have seriously considered suicide in the past year (Dr A. Arcangelis, Queerwell, 2025).

In the workplace, this crisis often hides in plain sight. Forty-five percent of LGBTQ+ professionals report a history of depression; one in six employees experiences work-related stress or anxiety at any one time. For many queer and trans people, the pressure to hide their identity, face daily micro-aggressions, or shoulder emotional labour for colleagues is exhausting.

This is not about fragility; it is about environments that fail to protect authenticity and belonging.

Yet we know what works. Workplaces that embrace inclusion and mental health – with LGBTQ+-affirming policies, staff training, and psychologically safe spaces – see burnout drop by over 30 percent, job satisfaction rise by nearly 40 percent, and creativity and retention flourish (Deloitte, 2022; HSE 2023). Culturally competent care is not just a moral duty; it is a wellbeing and productivity imperative (Harvard Business Review, 2022).

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This World Mental Health Day, here are five reminders:

1. Give yourself permission to rest
   You do not need to earn rest. Step away from the noise; your worth is not tied to productivity.
   
   
2. Reclaim your story
   Do not let others define who you are. Your identity is your strength.
   
   
3. Find affirming spaces
   Whether it is a queer book club, a trusted therapist, or a Sunday Sanctuary, seek places where you are fully seen.
   
   
4. Make room for joy
   Joy is not a distraction; it is resistance – and builds your resilience.
   
   
5. Reach out
   Check in on someone you have not spoken to in a while. Connection reduces isolation and the poor mental health that can come from being alone.

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Support Queerwell’s Sunday Sanctuary

At Queerwell Charity, we are building a nationwide LGBTQ+ mental health service to ensure no one faces these challenges alone. This month, we launch Sunday Sanctuary – a weekly wellbeing hub in the centre of London offering therapy, coach-led workshops, and creative spaces designed by and for those in our community who have the least resources and most need.

Find out more about Sunday Sanctuary, how it works, and the different ways you can support it here

‍Tim Spoor FRSA MBE
Co-founder and CEO, Queerwell