Posted on 09 May 2022
Mental Health Awareness Week 9-15th May 2022
It’s hard to know where to start when talking about mental health.
It’s such a vast topic and very personal. While it feels like a modern concept, you only need to talk to a few people to see it’s all around and always has been.
Alan Bennett’s A Life Like Other People’s, is a family memoir that highlights this beautifully with the addition of some lovely Northern humour. It explores the impact of his mother’s depression and the treatment she received, and also that she was not alone in her struggles.
I enrolled for a mental health Workplace Responder qualification earlier this year - a one-day course with a multiple choice exam at the end.
We were a group of about 20 strangers fast-tracked through different mental health conditions and symptoms. Some shared their personal experiences and we all tried to work out what we already knew and what we may have not fully understood or appreciated.
The diversity of the human condition was on full display.
I was also struck by the difference between those who raced through the exam and were out of the door in a flash, compared to those of us doggedly there until the end, fearful of not passing the course!
The two major takeaways were: be a good listener and signpost people to places where they can get more help.
Mental Health Awareness Week is organised by the Mental Health Foundation and the theme is loneliness. Read their 10 tips for looking after your mental health.
There’s more insights from the Mind-that-Gap Personal Resilience and Psychological Wellbeing session I attended earlier this year.
Julie Hackett,
Account Director and Mental Health Workplace Responder
