World Mental Health Day 2025
Celebrating Voices Through Poetry
For World Mental Health Day 2025, we invited poets to create from their own reality — to write honestly about their relationship with mental health.
There was no theme this year, giving everyone the freedom to express whatever felt true to them — whether their words came from personal experience, or from the experiences of a family member, a friend, or a loved one.
Each poem shared was a brave act of vulnerability and reflection. Together, they created a moving collection that speaks to the complexities of mental health — its challenges, its moments of light, and the strength that comes from speaking openly.
Congratulations to Our Winners
A huge congratulations to the winners of this year’s World Mental Health Day competition. Your creativity and openness have moved us deeply.
Your work reminds us that mental health is not a solitary topic — it’s something that connects us all, something we must nurture and talk about openly.
To everyone who took part: thank you.
Your submissions show the power of expression, empathy, and community. You’ve helped make it a little easier for others to speak, to listen, and to heal.
Our Commitment
We take mental health seriously — not just on World Mental Health Day, but every day of the year.
We stand by the message that mental wellbeing deserves care, conversation, and compassion, always.
Through art and creativity, we continue to raise awareness, break stigma, and encourage one another to look out for ourselves and for those around us.
Looking Ahead to 2026
We’ll be back next year for World Mental Health Day 2026, with another opportunity to express, reflect, and celebrate the many ways mental health shapes our lives and communities.
Until then, take care of yourselves and each other — and remember, your story matters.
1ST PLACE
THE ARCHITECTURE OF SILENCE
The deepest structure is the one unseen,
An architecture built behind the screen.
No fever charts this silent, seismic fault,
No splint can mend the mind’s perpetual halt.
My energy is not a fuel I burn,
But a constant, subtle tax on every turn.
The simplest door becomes a concrete wall;
To choose one word, I must expend it all.
This is the labor of the hidden heart:
To play a whole and functioning part.
To smile the right way, to keep the voice quite flat,
To hold the gravity inside a hat.
It’s the long, slow work of sealing every crack,
Then facing morning knowing you must go back
To the tireless effort of appearing well,
While living out a private, airless cell.
We are told to fix what’s broken in the light,
But this fracture hides in the most common night.
The language for it still remains too thin;
How do you phrase the noise where thoughts begin?
The mind a gallery of closed-off rooms,
Filled with inherited and unnamed glooms.
I am the tenant, landlord, and the wrecking ball,
Exhausted by the work of having to stand at all.
But look closely now at the foundation that remains—
It holds. Despite the pressure, despite the strains.
The pure desire to simply rise and be
Is the single, unbreakable reality.
You are not the fear, nor the voice that tries to drown;
You are the deepest pillar of this ghost-town crown.
You survived the long nights without a map,
And that slow, fierce effort cannot simply snap.
The victory is quiet, an internal vow:
The strength required to be standing here, right now.
Find the single breath you can truly call your own,
And start the slow, brave work of rebuilding, stone by stone.
DANIEL WILLIAM
2ND PLACE
As you can see
The whole “fake it til you’ll make it” thing was made for me
I have felt broken and beaten for a long time
and it’s weighing me down
and I’m tired of always pretending to smile and joke around
and I’m trying to deal and heal
but the pain that I feel is very real
Emotionally dysregulated
The weight I feel has been carefully calculated
and I don’t know how to carry it anymore
Every breath feels like this enormous chore
Paralyzed to this bed
Depression has torn me to shreds
I fear I am nothing
But dust and ash
Rotting in my own despair
How did we let it get this bad again?
I know mental illness will beat us down now and then
But this- this is too much
They tell me, “hold on, it will get better”
But I’ve been fighting for 12 years and “better” arrives never
But I’ve been fighting for 12 years and “better” arrives never
I once told you to hold on to hope
But my grip slips
and I don’t even know how to cope
So I turn to what feels most natural:
I pretend my world isn’t collapsing
I smoke away the self-destructive thoughts
I present you with my bright and warm smile
While the dark cloud over my head has started to storm
Rain falls from my eyes
Tears are threatening to form
I don’t know what’s wrong with me
I won’t blame you if this is all too hard to believe
For the mask I wear makes it hard to perceive
SIERRA JAMES
3RD PLACE
THE MIRROR THAT LIED
Every day he looked at his reflection,
Eyes that showed a sadness and rejection.
A face that showed anxiety and fears,
Cheeks that bore the tracks of thousands of tears.
A stare that looked so damn cold and unkind,
Echoing the battles going on in his mind.
All he saw was a stranger, tired and worn,
Shoulders slumped, arms hanging, looking forlorn.
He slowly reached out to wipe the glass clean,
A last-ditch attempt to finally be seen.
He found that the glass had twisted the view,
An internal message that grew and grew.
He started to realise it was his voice —
He didn’t have to listen; he did have a choice.
It wasn’t the glass that passed judgment on him,
The mirror showed what he had long concealed within.
He pulled on the cord — everything went bright.
At last he could see himself in the full light.
His inner monologue, he didn’t have to agree;
He could be kind to himself — and then be free.
In the hardest times, he could give himself grace,
His positive qualities he could start to embrace.
He straightened his back, forced his shoulders to rise;
The mirror flickered gold — fire burned in his eyes.
His smile grew wide, and the cracks grew small;
He saw the glass reflecting strength after all.
Where shame once stood, now courage resides —
He now thanks the mirror that told him the lies.
BY DOMINIC BRATHWAITE
4TH PLACE
MORE THAN A POEM
Mental health isn’t a topic to be talked about once a year,
It’s important to take care of your mental health even if right now your experiencing fear.
I know often people can’t see what your going through,
That doesn’t disregard how isolating it is for you.
Mental health difficulties affect everyone,
People’s lives aren’t perfect, they dont constantly have fun.
Those who deny ever struggling with life or their mood,
Can often project unhelpful thoughts, beliefs and narratives, which can be quite rude.
I’ve experienced anxiety where it caused upheaval in my life and I had a tight chest,
At the time worrying about an old job’s performance when compared to the best.
I’ve worked on the wards and also within mental health community settings,
The power of help and support was what each of these clients, patients, and service users was getting.
Within different cultures, religions and societies,
Individuals are told not to talk about their problems, or difficulties maintaining unhelpful biases.
Break the cycle, and dont ever feel ashamed,
What your experiencing can be addressed, discussed and named.
Your mental health is as equally important as your physical health,
This poem is here to validate everything you’ve ever felt.
I have lived and professional experience that you can feel better,
I’ve written this poem as sincere as I could, a heartfelt artistic letter
SELINA TOUSSAINT-PETERSON | WORDSHAVEPURPOSE
5TH PLACE
LET THE CLOAK FALL
Dear you
Hiding under different hues
Sending vibes with various clues
Afraid to show what’s real and true
Under your smiles
Are silent cries
The pain of betrayal and lies
Cloaked in gleeful eyes
How much you try to conceal
How much you refuse to show what you feel
You can never disguise your ordeal
It’ll find its way to show what’s real
You try so hard not to look meek
For you fear to appear weak
You’re nearing the end of your stick
Yet you let pride exhaust your wick
Embrace your vulnerability
Don’t be afraid to show the reality
The various colors of your personality
Make a good tapestry of your individuality
Get up, stand up with poise
You are your own hoist
Let the world hear your voice
Amidst the chaos and noise
MADELYNE CARSULA
6TH PLACE
THE BUMPY ROAD TO SALVATION
Locked up.
Incarcerated.
Sleeping in the Devil’s motel,
penned inside the gates of hell.
The sun never shines on this godforsaken place,
he gets turned away as soon as he reaches the prison gates.
Only dark clouds loom
casting a menacing shadow of doom.
Living in a web of despair,
deep within a deadly spiders lair.
Trapped by burning flames,
filled with regret and shame.
My mind slowly starting to crack as time stands still
constantly trying to break my will.
Praying to God, I make it out of here alive,
but he left this place a long time ago, there were too many lost souls.
Now the Devil and his crows are free to work their cunning evil,
hatching plans and ruining lives.
Yard time.
No room for weakness in here,
the wolves would come to feast, I fear.
For this is a jungle full of hungry predators,
For this is a jungle full of hungry predators,
ready to pounce with razor-sharp teeth and piercing claws.
Lights out.
Deafening screams of tormented men
roam the halls and haunt my dreams.
Drowning in deep water, struggling to swim,
gasping for air.
Is anybody out there?
Gazing through a barred window out to freedom,
I see a shooting star,
glowing in the distance from afar.
A beacon of hope shining bright,
radiating warmth and light.
Clarity hits me with a thud,
turning night into day.
It’s a divine message from up above,
telling me to never give up.