00:00In Kent, mental health issues continue to affect many people every day.
00:04At the start of this week, an inquest found that a man from Raynham, Simon Smith, died by suicide after
00:11struggling with depression and anxiety.
00:13Although he had been diagnosed with generalised anxiety disorder, many people are still unable to access support,
00:20with research suggesting that a significant number do not meet the threshold for a clinical diagnosis.
00:26So this research has been commissioned by Calm's Herbal Remedies, and it's had a look at the real impact that
00:34day-to-day anxiety is having on people.
00:37So it's that sort of persistent unease, people experiencing everyday pressures, so your work, your home life.
00:44I think sometimes we don't realise what we're carrying on our backs sometimes.
00:49The research says nearly 3 in 10 adults take time off work, school or caring responsibilities due to anxiety,
00:56coming to around 15 million working days lost nationwide.
01:01To better understand how debilitating anxiety can be, I travelled to Maitstone to speak with members of the community using
01:08Mid-Kent Mines free services.
01:10So I used to have a job until my mental health got really bad, and since, because I've been really
01:17struggling with it of late,
01:19I'm not working at all, I'm living on benefits.
01:22I had a really bad experience one time, years and years ago when I went up to Priority House, and
01:27I was self-harming at the time.
01:29And the lady said, oh, a cat could have done that.
01:33Understandably so, some people that I spoke to did not wish to share their face on camera due to the
01:39severity of their anxiety,
01:41concerned about how they might be perceived.
01:43It took the group quite a long time, actually, to get comfortable with me and share their experiences,
01:49because I'm a new person which is alone enough to trigger their anxiety, let alone bringing a camera with me.
01:56I put forward a question to a member of the group if they've ever felt like their anxiety wasn't severe
02:01enough to seek professional help.
02:03Yeah, people have made me feel that way, people I thought were friends, people in my family and relationships.
02:11Awful, really, to say that even people in my family, yeah, have, you know, belittled it or made it seem
02:17like they're not interested.
02:18Some of them didn't even realise what was happening to me, didn't even know and didn't want to know.
02:22In the claims made against Priority House in Matestone, a spokesperson for the Kenton Medway Mental Health NHS Trust has
02:30apologised,
02:31saying patient and family experience is extremely important to us.
02:34And with the voice of lived experience, we remain committed to listening, learning and continually improving care.
02:42There's no magic wand to make anxiety disappear.
02:44But from what I've learned, meeting with these individuals brave enough to face their own struggles and share their stories
02:51shows just how important it is to talk to others.
02:54Maisie Walker for KMTV, Medstone.
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