MENTAL HEALTH -'I WAS SHOCKED THAT ONE IN FIVE OF US IS STRUGGLING'

CAMPAIGNER KATIE PIPER ON WHY IT’S SO IMPORTANT FOR US TO BE HONEST WITH OURSELVES AND CHECK WHETHER WE’REFLOURISHING OR LANGUISHING IN LIFE

- LESLEY JONES

Presenter Katie Piper knows a thing or two about juggling the demands of being a campaigning celebrity, mum and all-round superwoman. She’s even worked on projects with the Prince’s Trust, set up by King Charles, to boost confidence in young people.

Now she’s supporting a new online campaign to measure how women are really feeling as they go about their lives, in the hope that issues such as burnout, stress and anxiety will be kept in check.

“I was shocked when I read that one in five of us is struggling with mental health issues,” says Katie, 39, who explains it is an issue close to her own heart as a busy working mum-of-two.

As she chats about her support of AXA UK’s Mind Health campaign, she admits girls Belle, nine, and Penelope, five, who she shares with husband Richard Sutton are “screaming in the next room”, but have her parents keeping an eye on them.

“If you do, by some miracle, manage to balance work and family life, then your absolute own personal needs just have to be non-existent,“ she says.

“Going to the shop to get food is suddenly seen as ‘your time’ and you’re like ‘I’m buying bread and milk!’”