Chronic kidney disease and your mental health

Living with chronic kidney disease (CKD) can be challenging. Wherever you are in your experience of kidney disease, we are here to help you support your mental health.

Strategies to support your mental health

  • Mindfulness

    Focusing on life’s daily stresses can mean you miss how your body really feels. This can be especially true if you are living with a long-term condition such as chronic kidney disease (CKD).

  • Emotional resilience

    Long-term conditions like chronic kidney disease (CKD) can affect different areas of your life as well as your health. Emotional resilience is about coping with your problems and finding a way to continue to live well, even when under considerable stress.

  • Challenge anxious thoughts with positive thinking

    Kidney Care UK Lead Counsellor Jackie Pilcher shares her advice about turning negative thinking into positive thinking.

Counselling and support from Kidney Care UK

Living with a long-term illness like CKD can turn anyone's world upside down. You're not alone. Our counselling service offers free help and and emotional support to kidney patients and their families.

Finding community

  • Young Adult Kidney Group (YAKG)

    Started in 2016 as a way for young people with kidney disease to come together, the Young Adult Kidney Group has grown into a safe place for young patients to support one another online.

  • Kidney Care UK online community

    At Kidney Care UK, we believe no one should have to face kidney disease alone. To connect with other people affected by CKD in the UK, join our friendly, supportive online community on Facebook.

  • Community support for rare kidney conditions

    If you are living with a rare condition, building a community around yourself can help you feel less isolated, access the latest information and share your lived experience to give hope to others.