Let’s talk about mental health

WARNING - this is a long post but one worth your while reading. This has been a historic week for Ireland and I couldn’t be prouder to be a citizen of this country. However, our work is not over. We are losing far too many of our people to suicide and while we are making great strides to raise mental health awareness there is much more than needs to be done as a matter of urgency. Since I have been home in Ireland I have had countless conversations with people about what we can easily do ourselves to contribute to (hopefully) completely eradicating this issue in turn saving and improve the lives of our people. Who am I to advise people or make suggestions I hear you ask? Well to be honest, I am nobody, however I am nobody that has some ideas that might be worth while considering. I am nobody who has lost extended family and friends to suicide. I am nobody who has first hand personal experience with anxiety and depression and knows what it feels like to feel lost and an overwhelming sense of desperation. So while I may not have countless degrees or letters after my name I do have life experience. Parents, you are the guardians of our future generation. You have the power to change their thinking towards their mental health. Talk openly to your children from an early age about their mental health. Normalise the conversation. If you have a pain in your tummy you tell your parents, if you feel sad or anxious that conversation should be just as simple. Teach them to openly have conversations with their peers. Kindness and empathy towards someone who is suffering from a mental health issue can literally save their life and knowing how to open that line of communication from a young age will cause a ripple effect throughout their whole life. Employers listen up, here are a few things that you can incorporate into working life to ease stress on your staff. Also I can here you crying already about how much money it will cost etc. but I promise you, treat your staff and their mental health correctly and you will get so much more productivity in return, hence earning you more money and possibly saving lives. It’s win win really. 1. Reword sick leave to personal leave and incorporate at least one, preferably two or three mental health days a year. These days should not require a doctors certificate or any other explanation or conversation other than an email from your employee stating that they are taking a mental health day. 2. Offer a decent Employee Assistance Program. This should be an external resource where the employee does not have to inform the employer that they are seeking any assistance and should also be extended to immediate family members. This resource needs to be available outside of working hours. 3. Adequate breaks. We all know by law what we are entitled to but realistically how many of your employees actually get to take these breaks. Do your employees eat their lunch at their desk or between meetings? This does not equate to adequate breaks. This gives the brain a chance to settle and relax from the stress of the day and may also open a pathway to having a conversation with a co-worker that may lighten the mood of the working day. You never know that might be the only conversation your employee gets to have all day. 4. Working outside of office hours should not be encouraged and should only be undertaken in extreme circumstance (we are talking life or death). Both you and your employees need to be able to have down time. Smart phones are now widely being used to work outside of normal operating hours infringing on personal time, increasing stress and creating a sense of ‘not being able to get away’ for your employee. This can feel like the hamster wheel from hell to someone who is overwhelmed. Don’t try the trick of ‘it’s not mandatory but if people choose to work outside hours of they are free to do so’. We all know that once one person does it, others will follow out of fear or feeling obliged. Get rid of this culture. 5. A mental health and well-being strategy in your workplace. I do not mean you have a document sitting somewhere on file gathering dust or taking up hard drive space. I mean an actual strategy that is mandatory and put into place. Finally, if you are feeling overwhelmed, depressed, a bit down or suicidal TELL someone, tell anyone, get those words up through your vocal cords and let us help you. I promise you and if I say nothing else that is more true for my entire life NOTHING is worth dying for. There is light at the end of the tunnel, there is nothing that is not fixable and there is nothing more precious than your life. Trust that others will recognise that and will not think any less of you for asking for help. The world has been watching Ireland over the past few years. We have shown solidarity, compassion and respect in both the referendum on marriage equality and repealing the 8th Amendment. We have an opportunity as citizens of this nation to choose to eradicate the suicide rate and become a leading society in mental health awareness but more so we owe it to each other, as humans, to stand up for and stand together on this issue. Lets disrupt the status quo in our homes, our schools and our workplaces and advocate real change. Rise up Ireland, rise to this challenge as historically we we have risen to all challenges before and be the change that we need. It’s completely within our power. *How you can help* Take the ideas in this post, or any ideas your might have yourself into your home, your school or to your employer. Ask your local politician over and over what is their mandate for change with regards to mental health. To make lasting real change it takes everyone to show up for each other in any way that you can.