On 29 March 2020, the Government and Public Health England launched new guidance to support people with their mental health during the Covid-19 outbreak.

The actions we need to take to tackle coronavirus are hugely disruptive to people’s lives and routines, and we know that much of the news at the minute is worrying, and at times overwhelming, for a lot of people.

That’s why Public Health England has launched new guidance on how to look after mental wellbeing, and we are providing £5 million to leading mental health charities to expand their support services.

It’s imperative that we stay home to protect our NHS and save lives. But people should not be left to suffer on their own and we will make sure everyone has the support they need.

The Government is doing this by:

Making more support available to help people with their mental health during the Covid-19 crisis.

Public Health England has published new online guidance setting out principles to follow to help people to manage their mental health during this difficult time, such as:

• Maintaining contact with friends and family via phone and video calls, or social media.
• Keeping a regular routine and sleeping pattern.
• Focusing on a hobby or learning something new.
• How people already living with mental health problems can better cope

Providing tailored advice to parents and carers on how best to support children and young people with stress during the Covid-19 outbreak. This will include providing parents with clear information, asking them to be aware of their own reactions around children and encouraging them to create a new routine for our changed circumstances.

Providing £5 million to leading mental health charities, to fund additional services for people struggling with their mental wellbeing during this time.The grant will be administered by Mind, and could be used to improve telephone and online services for the most isolated and vulnerable in our communities.

Updating Public Health England’s Every Mind Matters platform with specific advice for dealing with the Covid-19 outbreak. Public Health England has updated its world-leading Every Mind Matters platform with specific advice on maintaining good mental wellbeing during the outbreak.

People can also complete a ‘Mind Plan’, a quick and free tool that has already been completed over 1.8 million times.