As if we’re
onto day six of Mental Health Awareness Week! Today, I’ll be collaborating with
the Design Parlour and Etsy UK to bring to you the second print we have
designed and are selling on the
Design Parlour’s Etsy store. I also thought I’d take inspiration from the
print and chat about all the things that you can do to feel less alone…
Asking for
help:
I think that the hardest steps in getting help and support are recognising
you need it, deciding who to seek it from, and then actually asking for it! I
mean, people talk about ‘admitting you need help’ as though you’re finally
succumbing to some sort of weakness. And this is also where pride comes into it;
because asking for help is recognising that you can’t do something alone and
accepting that you need someone else to make it happen. But, I believe, that
doing these things – seeing that you need it and asking for help – can be a
huge illustration of bravery and strength because you’re having to fight all of
the notions as to why you shouldn’t.
My fear of telling someone about my mental health (particularly the hallucinations) was mostly due to the panic that I had worked up my own little scenario in my head. I was convinced that telling someone I was hearing voices and considering suicide, would result in my being hauled from my home by people in white jackets who would lock me up in the local psychiatric hospital and force medication down my throat – when they weren’t giving me electro-shock therapy! My belief was conditioned in part by the terribly stigmatised stories of mental health in the media back then and in part by the horror stories I’d heard about our local psychiatric services.
I like to think that I have no regrets in my life. That there are instances where I could have done something differently, but I recognise that if I had, I wouldn’t be where/who I am today (and I’m kind of happy with that person/life). But, if there was something I’ve done that I wouldn’t recommend to anyone else, it would be that I didn’t ask for help sooner. The fact that I didn’t tell anyone about the hallucinations for ten days and that I only eventually told someone because I had made a suicide attempt and was sectioned under the 1983 Mental Health Act (and had the mindset that it couldn’t get any worse), is something I wouldn’t suggest anyone else do!
When you’ve recognised you need help, it can then become important
who you ask for it. I had built up a whole host of arguments and reasons (that weren’t
at all based on fact!) why I couldn’t tell particular people. And to be honest,
to this day; there are still things that I would only tell my support worker or
which I would only say to my Mum, or my best-friends. So, whilst it’s essential
that you recognise you need help, it is equally important that you turn to someone
you trust and that you do so, without any hugely exaggerated expectations or unfair
assumptions that might set you up to feel disappointed and let-down.
So, with everything in mind, here are a few UK helplines and
resources:
In an
emergency always dial: 999
NHS Non-Emergency: 111
To find your local NHS mental health helpline: Mental
Health Helpline for Urgent Help - NHS (www.nhs.uk)
British
Red Cross Support Line: 0808 196 3651
Cruse Bereavement Support:
0808 808 1677
For information on seeking help and support from your GP: How to talk
to your GP about your mental health | Mental Health Foundation
Samaritans: 116 123 or jo@samaritans.org
Papyrus
(for under 35’s): 0800 068 41 41 or pat@papyrus-uk.org
C.A.L.M:
0800 58 58 58
For information on seeking help and support for children and young
people: Information
for young people – Find support for mental health - Mind
The Silver Line (for older
people): 0800 470 8090
Read:
Navigating
Loneliness by Cheryl Rickman: £7.85
How
To Listen So Men Will Talk by Tom Chapman: £8.39
Lonely
Less by Gill Hasson: £7.69
Reasons
To Stay Alive by Matt Haig: £4.00
Making
Sense of Psychiatric Diagnosis by Ashley Peterson: £5.68
A
Mindfulness Guide for Survival by Ruby Wax: £7.49
Happy
by Fearne Cotton: £5.91
High
Tide Low Tide by Martin Baker and Fran Houston: £9.99
Music:
Just didn't know what to do and how
to deal with it
Even now deep down I'm still livid
To think I used to blame me
I wonder what I did to you to make
you hate me
Read All
About It – Emeli Sande and Professor Green
I don't
wanna be someone who walks away so easily
I'm here to
stay and make the difference that I can make
Our
differences, they do a lot to teach us how to use
The tools
and gifts we got
I Won’t Give
Up – Jason Mraz
Funny, you're the broken one
But I'm the only one who needed
saving
Stay –
Rihanna ft. Mikky Ekko
Oh, and the
award for the best liar goes to you
(Goes to you)
For making
me believe that you could be faithful to me
Take A Bow –
Rihanna
From a
distance my choice is simple
From a
distance I can entertain
So, you can
see me
I put make-up
on my face
But there's
no way you can feel it
From so far
away
Clown – Emeli
Sande
Helpful Purchases:
Mental
Health Affirmation Cards: £20.33
The
Check In Journal: £24.00
Positivity
Pebbles: £10.00
The
Morning Mindset Mug: £10.95
Recovery
Bracelet: £8.00
Self-Care
Journal: £23.23
Crisis
Card: £1.75
Anxiety
Awareness Badge: £5.00