I attended my mandatory Mental Health Awareness Training yesterday, it’s part of my counselling role at Mind in Mid Herts. The course needs to be completed every two years and, If I’m honest, as I turned up with my coffee and notepad, in hand I wasn’t brimming with enthusiasm. As a fully qualified counsellor, I like to think I’m already mindful about mental health. And of course, a day training is a day away from my clients. But six hours later, I ended the course in a very different place. Renewed and inspired, yes, but also confused and even sorrowful about the reality of our psychological wellbeing in the UK. Here are the three things that have impacted me most from my Mental Health Awareness training.
1 in 13 people will attempt suicide in their lifetime
This statistic just fills me with sadness. I think of the children in my son’s class at school, and I find it overwhelming to imagine that two of them will grow up and, at some point, decide to take their life.
And what exactly has driven them to this point? Have they been failed by the long waiting lists, put off by the idea they’ll be forced to take strong medication or did they just feel so alone in their depression that they didn’t believe there was anyone they could reach out to?
Probably because I work in mental health, I know of all the resources and support that exists. And I work with many talented and empathic mental health professionals every single day. But possibly, what I’m not aware of are all the barriers to accessing that support. The feelings of shame that may come with depression, the GP opening hours that clash with your times at work, the friends and family who suggest you just power on.
It’s not just better funding for mental health that’s needed, but also strong plans to lift the barriers that stop people accessing mental health care at the point they need it.
The language around mental health which leads to stigmatization
I use the word crazy in a casual way, so too the word insane. And if someone doesn’t like a film I do, I probably would say they were out of their mind. I don’t mean this literally obviously. But I have been cavalier with my words, partly because language is fluid and always changing but also just because I haven’t been thoughtful enough.
There’s also a way we speak about mental health issues that is, for some reason, laden with food metaphors. We refer to people as being nuts, bananas, crackers, a fruit cake or a sandwich short of a picnic.
Or, we use terms to suggest something’s faulty or damaged – a screw loose, unhinged, undone, breakdown And yet, when someone has a sprained leg, they just have a sprained leg.
Language is powerful and it can have very real consequences – leading people to feel ashamed, stigmatised and less than. And it can be this feeling of shame that stops getting the help they need. A person with a mental health diagnosis is likely to earn £10,000 less than a person without. And 5 times more likely to die before 75, so no lovely, long retirement.
I can’t promise I’ll never be unintentionally thoughtless with my language again, but I do understand the need to be sensitive about what I say and how I express it. And in turn I hope this helps to remove feelings of shame. Allowing us to all make an appointment with the mental health nurse in the same way we’d get our swollen ankle checked at A&E.
Many of us have had an experience with disordered eating
Figures for the prevalence of an eating disorder stand at around 6% in UK adults. But experiences of a brush with disordered eating was nearly everyone in my Mental Health Awareness training group. And it’s not surprising. The world demands a lot of us and there is constant pressure to achieve and perform, which can negatively impact anyone’s self-esteem. It’s easy to empathise with a person who wants to have control in this chaotic world, so they begin to micro manage their own eating.
Social media is awash with Instagrammers, extolling the virtues of their ‘clean eating’ diets. And even, occasionally, registered nutritionists and dietitians who should know better.
In this social climate It’s tough not to become body conscious and feel judged by your appearance. If you find yourself, in this place, and aware that your eating is becoming less about balance and pleasure and more about control, then I always recommend cleaning up your socials so you have access to a wider array of body shapes and influencers. And also making an appointment to speak with a counsellor, so you can talk to a trusted professional about how you’re feeling and what’s really going on for you.