With the combination of continued bad weather, unpaid bills, broken resolutions, coupled with the economic downturn, make this potentially one of the worst Blue Mondays ever.

A special campaign web site, beatbluemonday is offering practical advice to tackle the effects of Blue Monday, the symbolic date for the low point in the year.

The date is already providing a rallying cry for anyone wanting to use the opportunity be positive with events such as a ‘Gloom Aid’ concert on Blue Monday, at the O2 Academy in London raising funds for the Depression Alliance, the Beat Blue Monday Conference run by the Confident Club on Friday January 15th and the Optimists Society providing advice and tips on how to be more optimistic on the day.

Blue Monday has evolved from an idea originally conceived by Cliff Arnall, formerly of Cardiff University, who created a mathematical formula to identify a number of the elements contributing to a general feeling of mid winter blues.

Advice for making you feel better during Blue Monday includes keep active, eat well, keep in touch with friends and family, care for others, do something you are good at, ask for help, accept who you are, talk about your feelings, take a break and drink sensibly.

Further help is available from the Mental Health Foundation who have produced a guide ‘How to look after your mental health’ available from www.mentalhealth.org.uk

The ‘Beat Blue Monday’ campaign has been developed by the Flexible Thinking Forum, a not-for-profit organisation promoting flexible and creative thinking skills in business and the community with the support of GREEN communications.

Visit beatbluemonday for more details about how to overcome ‘Blue Monday’ and how you can do your bit to help charities. The public is also being urged to submit their own creative ideas for beating the January blues to the website.

Commenting on the Blue Monday campaign Andy Green of the Flexible Thinking Forum said: "Blue Monday may symbolically be the year’s most depressing day, but it doesn’t have to be, by making the most of potential opportunities around each of us. Blue Monday is also a time to think of others worse off and do something positive to help."