Shoppers in Stratford will have the chance to talk to NHS staff about mental health on Thursday.

Staff from East London NHS Foundation Trust will be at the shopping centre to mark World Mental Health Day. They will host a stall with information about mental health, activities that can help with maintaining mental health wellbeing and offering information about services that can help when people need support.

World Mental Health Day is a yearly event celebrated on October 10 around the world.

The day was created by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to raise public awareness of mental health issues.

A spokeswoman fro the Trust said around 154 million people around the world suffer from depression, so it’s likely that you or someone you know will be affected by mental illness during your lifetime.

World Mental Health Day aims to get us all talking openly about mental illnesses and the treatment and preventions that are available.

From time to time, we all feel weighed down by issues in our life and feel overwhelmed. In most cases, something changes, we are able to take action and the pressure lifts and we are OK again. she said.

But some people continue to experience difficulties with worry, feeling down, anxiety, panic, anger, severe shyness, fears, phobias, intrusive thoughts or compulsions or continue to feel troubled by the effects of a traumatic event or a difficult period in their life.

If you can relate to any of these feelings, you are not alone and there are services that can help. In Newham, East London NHS Foundation Trust provides a range of confidential talking therapies and mental health services.

For more information, go to www.eastlondon.nhs.uk