Parity of thought =parity of esteem

For many it may see weird that I would attend a mental health first aid training course and as I was reading and listening I began to wonder why I attended but really my reasoning was not about increasing my understanding or expanding my knowledge but to hear and exchange thoughts on the subject of mental health first aid. It is often the family, relatives and/or friends that encounter and or support people in the first stages of declining mental health and so first aid or the first response is something that is given by those around us and not by health professionals. It is only after things have declined that professional help is sort and often then only when the person feels it is impacting on their lives significantly.

I may have had poor mental health and I’ve certainly supported people who have had declining mental health but really a strategy about how to help those in need is not something I have really thought about. Presented with a problem I have sought to help but as with many have come up against significant emotional barriers and not just from the people who are asking for help. It can be extremely difficult to know what or how to respond to something when you are feeling worried, anxious, shocked or frightened and it can be made worse by the feelings of not being able to help. And really if we as the general population have no idea how to help those who are struggling emotionally it is poor state of affairs. In fact it seems that actually this may be why people are now seeking therapy in their droves and that increasing awareness and openness about mental distress and how to improve our mental well-being were to happen then many people may well be helped without the need for more professional interventions.

So what did I get out of it?

 I didn’t really learn a lot about mental health and maintaining well being but as the group was very mixed in ethnic backgrounds I did learn quite a lot about how other people and communities view mental health and how they might approach helping people or not. It also cemented in my mind an approach to helping people that although I feel I already had in my head had not verbalised or formalised.

A-Assess the risk of suicide or self harm

L-Listen non judgmentally to them using open questions to find out what is going on/causing the problem

G- Give reassurance and appropriate information

E- Encourage them to seek appropriate professional advice

E-Encourage them to enter into appropriate self help strategies

Courtesy of Mental health for England

 
The course is well thought out and well constructed and despite my prior knowledge was well worth attending. And I have to say that it was apparent from the exercises that my knowledge was far greater than most of the other people attending and also that my prior experience of people in mental distress was quite extensive. I write a blog about mental health issues so I kind of expected this but I still find it surprising.

So why then did I attend?

As I said because for all my knowledge and experience I felt lacking in confidence that my approach was a good one and no I probably wouldn’t have paid out the £150 to put myself on the course but as it was funded by the big lottery fund I felt free to attend and I’m glad I did. It isn’t all that often that you get to talk to people from all different walks of life about mental health in a way that is both constructive and aimed at helping people when the people are not already suffering and that experience alone was a welcome one.

I found out more about peoples attitudes and understanding from this than I have in many years just talking about my own experiences with those around me and would thoroughly recommend it to others. And despite the increasing openness of people to talk about mental health issues many have still not even thought about the topic of mental health as anything other than mental illness. The whole idea that hey might want to talk about ways to help keep themselves mentally healthy seems alien.

And I’m shocked. I’m not sure why but I am. It doesn’t seem that despite repeated us of the 1 in 4 people will suffer from a mental health problem in their lifetime that people have gained that much understanding of mental wellbeing of for that matter mental illness.

So would you know the fives ways to help keep your well being? And if you do, do you actually think about doing them every day?

I don’t think so, mainly because despite my problems I don’t even think about it every day. Most days but not all and really I am not at all sure that most people even do that much. In fact I’m quite sure they don’t think about it all. The problem is that once you are having problems it is a little bit late to start considering what might help and if we as a population are to start tackling the problems of reducing the problems of low  or poor mental well being then it ought to be a higher priority.

For instance when the problems of obesity and poor physical health were becoming apparent it became a daily thing.

The’ 5 a day’, ’10,000 steps a day’, ‘5 mins walking a day’ slogans for physical health are everywhere.

So what about our mental health, shouldn’t that be an everyday thing too?

It is no good knowing what might help if you don’t put it into practice and one of the best ways to do this is to include some aspect of it into your daily routine. The reality is that people need to start considering how to help themselves stay mentally well.

The biggest take home from the course for me was that the more people talk about what is felt and about how to help themselves stay well and share strategies the more people are likely to stay well and that means all those people who don’t have problems need to start thinking about how they cope as well as those that are struggling.

We all need to start thinking about our mental health more and put it on the same level as our physical health.

And if you’re interested in doing a mental health first aid course (Mental health for England) but haven’t been able to encourage your employer to fund them (there are corporate packages if they are interested) then do look out for opportunities in your local area as these courses are sometimes offered for free by local authorities.