World Mental Health Day takes place on 10 October every year. It is a chance to raise awareness of mental health and think about how we support one another.
Imagine if someone in your team seemed quieter than usual. You wanted to check in, but you were not quite sure how to start.
Now imagine feeling confident enough to ask, listen and work out an appropriate next step together.
World Mental Health Day is a useful opportunity to start building that confidence across your workplace.
You do not need a big campaign to make a useful start. Here are practical World Mental Health Day activities for the workplace, with ideas you can keep using throughout the year.
What is World Mental Health Day?
World Mental Health Day is an annual awareness day held on 10 October. It brings attention to mental health and encourages action to improve understanding and support.
At work, it is an opportunity to ask some useful questions:
- Would someone in your team feel comfortable saying they are struggling?
- Would their manager feel confident having that conversation?
- Does everyone know where to find support?
- Are there pressures in the working day that you could change?
Your answers can help you choose something that feels useful for your team, rather than simply filling a slot in the calendar.
Seven World Mental Health Day activities for the workplace
1. Make space for an everyday conversation
Set aside time for an optional coffee catch-up, a quiet conversation or a remote team check-in. Give people a chance to connect without asking them to share personal experiences in front of colleagues.
You could start with: “What would make your working week feel more manageable?”
Make it clear that listening is welcome too. Nobody needs to disclose something personal to take part.
You could also take a moment to recognise the everyday ways colleagues support one another. Keep it specific and sincere, without asking anyone to share a personal story.
2. Make time to learn together
A short mental wellbeing session can give your team a shared starting point. Make time during the working day to watch together or learn individually, then invite people to reflect on one idea they could use.
Keep any discussion optional. You will find a free session in the resources below.
3. Help managers practise starting a conversation
You can care about your team and still find yourself thinking: “What do I actually say?”
Use fictional workplace examples to practise a gentle opening, such as: “You’ve seemed quieter than usual lately. How are things with you?”
Focus on listening, asking what would help and understanding the support available. Managers do not need to diagnose someone or have every answer. Avoid assumptions about what a change in someone’s behaviour means.
4. Make support easier to find
Check whether your team knows who they can speak to and how to contact them.
Bring the relevant information together in one clear place. Depending on your organisation, that could include a manager, HR contact, employee assistance programme or trained Mental Wellbeing First Aider.
Explain what each person or service can offer, along with any confidentiality limits. Share the information in a short email or on your staff noticeboard or intranet. Check that remote workers, shift workers and people away from their desks can find it too.
5. Listen to what your people would change
Ask your team what helps them feel supported and what makes work harder than it needs to be. Offer a private route for feedback, rather than relying only on a group discussion. A short anonymous survey can help, provided you can genuinely protect anonymity, particularly in a small team.
You might ask: “What is one thing we could change to make working here more manageable?”
Look for practical themes such as competing priorities, unclear expectations or difficulty taking breaks.
Follow up with a simple team update: what you heard, what you will change and when you will review it. Be honest about what you can do, and avoid including details that could identify someone.
6. Choose one action to continue after October
Before the day ends, agree one useful next step, who will take it forward and when you will review it.
That might be a regular manager check-in, clearer support information or a review of workload across the team.
Keep it specific. “We will review our meeting schedule this month” gives people something more concrete than “We will prioritise wellbeing”.
7. Start a Wellness Action Plan
Give people time to think about what helps them stay well at work and what support they would find useful.
A Wellness Action Plan can give that reflection some structure. Let each person decide what they are comfortable sharing, then agree practical actions together. You will find a free template and guide below.
Free resources to help you get started
Choose a starting point that suits you and your team: a session to explore mental wellbeing, or a practical tool to help you plan support at work.
Explore: a free 45-minute mental wellbeing session
Me, My Colleagues & Our Mental Health introduces our practical approach to everyday mental wellbeing.
You will get a feel for the SkillBase way of learning: friendly, down-to-earth and connected to situations you recognise. It is a useful introduction if you want to understand more about yourself and supporting others.
Access the free 45-minute session >
Put it into practice: a Wellness Action Plan
Our free Wellness Action Plan Toolkit includes a template and guide to help you explore what keeps you well at work, what makes things harder and what support you would like from your manager.
Use it for your own reflection or as a starting point for a supportive one-to-one conversation. Revisit the plan as your needs or working circumstances change.
World Mental Health Day 2026: the theme
For 2026, the World Health Organization’s campaign theme is “Lived experiences heard: real voices, real change.”
For your workplace, a practical way to respond is to involve people in shaping the support available to them. Ask what feels useful, what is missing and what they would like you to understand.
Give people a choice about how they contribute. Sharing a personal story should always be voluntary, and listening should lead to a clear next step.
Build confidence beyond World Mental Health Day
A short session can open a conversation. You may then want to help your managers or designated supporters develop their confidence further.
With SkillBase’s Mental Wellbeing First Aid training, you can build confidence to notice when someone may need support, start a conversation, listen and understand where to turn next.
Our Hero Makers help you turn learning into practical action, with time to talk things through and build your confidence.
That is what being a Hero-on-Standby means here: feeling ready to offer appropriate support, while understanding the boundaries of your role.
We will help you choose training that fits your team and the support you want them to provide.
World Mental Health Day FAQs
When is World Mental Health Day?
World Mental Health Day is on 10 October every year. If that falls outside your normal working week, you can organise workplace activities on a nearby day that suits your team.
What can we do for World Mental Health Day at work?
You could share a mental wellbeing session, make time for an optional check-in, help managers practise supportive conversations or make support information easier to find. Choose an activity that fits your team and agree what happens afterwards.
Can remote teams take part?
Yes. Offer a virtual catch-up, share an online learning session or invite feedback through a private channel. Give people flexibility around working hours and a choice about taking part in group discussions.
Do we need a budget to mark World Mental Health Day?
You can make a start with an optional conversation, clearer support information or access to our free session. Give people time to participate during their working day, and choose an action you can realistically follow through.
Is a short awareness session the same as Mental Wellbeing First Aid training?
Our free 45-minute session introduces the topic and our approach. Fuller Mental Wellbeing First Aid courses provide more time for learning and practice, with options for different workplace roles. Neither makes a delegate a therapist or clinician.
Let's talk!
We’re on a mission to fill workplaces with Heroes-on-Standby - people who feel confident stepping in during a first aid emergency or supporting someone’s mental wellbeing.
Got a quick question, an idea, or just fancy a chat about training? We’d love to hear from you (fair warning: we can get a little over-enthusiastic when it comes to first aid and wellbeing!).
If your enquiry is a bit more detailed, you can book a consultation with one of our training experts.