The UK’s Mental Health Foundation, whose initiatives we often publicise here, has been named as one of 8 charities to benefit from the Guardian newspaper’s 2006 Christmas Appeal, which this year focuses on mental health issues across the UK.

Regular readers will remember Kathryn Keats, the singer and songwriter who penned some guest contributions for us about her experiences being held captive and spending years in a victim witness protection program, unable to perform her music in public. Now she’s released the first of her new singles, and you can download a free musical collage of more pieces from her new CD right here.

Echoing the conclusions of a report from several UK mental health charities, an organisation which trains group psychotherapists has welcomed the report’s call for greater access to psychological therapies in the NHS and says that the NHS is not making full use of practising group psychotherapists.

The NHS is failing millions of people by ignoring clinical guidelines on psychological therapies, a group of charities warns in a report published today. The report argues that evidence-based talking therapies such as cognitive behavioural therapy are as important for the nation’s health as any cancer drug or surgical procedure.

With the clocks going back an hour on Sunday 29 October, the Mental Health Foundation is encouraging people to eat healthily and exercise regularly to ward off the symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Every year, 1 in 50 people in the UK suffers from SAD, although many do not realise it.