Mental Health Awareness Month

October is #MentalHealthAwareness month and the overall objective is to raise awareness of mental health issues around the world and to mobilize efforts in support of mental health. It's an opportunity to celebrate awareness for the global community in an empathetic way, with a unifying voice, helping those affected to feel hopeful by empowering them to take action and to create lasting change.

At #KeyNoteWomenSpeakers we have many experts in this field who would like to share their thoughts, stories and tips on how we all can look within but also look out and be a support to others in our world.

Dr Sarah Whyte is a speaker, trainer & workshop facilitator. She has a doctorate in emotional intelligence and with more than twenty years experience of supporting thousands of people with tough emotions. Dr Sarah helps people understand the power of emotion in building psychological safety.

She shares her thoughts about the importance on checking one's mental health. "Our self-awareness and insight into our current mental health status is so important, yet so many of us run on autopilot that we don’t necessarily notice our mental health until it’s causing us an issue. One thing we can do to raise our self-awareness is to check in and pay attention to how we feel. Take a moment to be still, slow down your breathing and pay attention to how you feel physically. From there, can you put a name to the emotions you feel. It takes a few moments to do this, so it’s very achievable to check in with yourself daily to monitor your mental health."

Sarah works with teams in high-pressure environments which expect peak performance and supports them to boost their performance, productivity, and communication.?To know more about Dr. Sarah or book her for your next event, please check out her profile

Able Wanamakok is a 16+ year communications expert well-known across Asia as an International Presenter, TV Personality, Motivational Speaker, Author, Forbes Coaches Council, Communication & Presenter Coach and Host of 'You Are Able' Video Series.?Her aim is to one’s natural strengths and talents to nurture relationships with oneself and others. ?

Good Mental Health = Your willingness to grow self-awareness + to control your critical mind. Able share's her thoughts and her own personal experience of going through a mid-life crisis in 2020-2021. "I realized that I cannot expect to improve my mental health if I continue to expect others to help me. Work harder doesn't mean growing outward, but growing within. How did I do that?

1. I quit everything that was no longer beneficial towards my life goal - feeling joyful and fulfilled.
2. I asked myself many deep questions on WHY I felt how I felt and what led me to feeling repetitive negative emotions over years. This led me to realize that my ego identity was keeping myself in a state of turmoil and I needed to break that egoic-self before moving forward.
3. I did yoga and worked on my breath through meditation.

These 3 key actions led me to who I am today feeling content and peaceful. It's a continuous journey of finding yourself and becoming the best version of you." To learn more about Able or book her for your next event, please check out her profile

Dr Karine Lespinasse is a language researcher and practitioner with degrees in computational linguistics (NLP) and information science. She has over 10 years of experience in laughter therapy and healing, working with children and adults across Asia, the USA, and France.

Today she shares how this therapy can improve our mental health. "I trained to laugh on purpose to boost myself and peers quickly, especially when things seem to go wrong. It’s exactly 10 years ago that I was first exposed to Laughter Yoga. I was going through an emotional roller coaster with two small children, a faltering marriage and the loss of a job. This simple practice of intentional laughter and deep breathing exercises paved my way for recovery. Laughter Yoga has been scientifically proven to reduce stress levels e.g. cortisol down by 28% in minutes and feel-good hormones up by 18% among other benefits.

Here are some suggestions to incorporate this incredible energy booster and stress reliever in your day.

• Use it as ice-breaker before trainings/meetings
• Give yourself a 1 minute laughter break
• Identify a laughter buddy
• Set up a Happy Friday lunch with your team
• Answer in gibberish to the scam calls

Laughter Yoga and Reiki paved the way for my recovery and ultimate well-being." To know more about Dr. Karine or to book her for your next event please check out her profile

Ruchi Parekh, PCC and lawyer by profession but she is also an Execute & Life Coach. She helps high-potential professionals build emotional resilience and a positive mindset to get to the next level in their lives, professionally and personally.

She shares her tips and what has worked for her when it comes to managing your mental health. "If you're one of those people who is always busy - STOP BELIEVING THIS! You think being busy is the same as giving your 100% percent to everything that you do. But being busy doesn't mean you're being productive. In fact, being too busy can often lead to the opposite effect. It can make you less focused, less efficient, and more stressed. If you want to be truly productive and successful, you need to learn to be less busy, focus on the things that are most important and give them your full attention. You can do that by:

• Setting priorities - Not all tasks are created equal. Once you know what your priorities are, you can focus on the most important tasks and delegate or eliminate the rest.
• Saying no - It's okay to say no to requests, especially if you're already feeling overwhelmed.
• Taking breaks - Include movement everyday for overall health.
• Eliminating distractions - Which means turning off your phone, closing your email, and finding a quiet place to work. Next time you think "I'm SO busy" - take a moment to reflect what that's doing to your productivity.

If you would want to know more about Ruchi or would like to book her for your next event please check out her profile on our website.

Ivana Fertitta is a Psychologist, Corporate Trainer & Consultant, Professional Speaker, Well-being and Happiness Coach, Author and Co-lead of KeyNote's training programme. With over 20?years of experience?in Community Psychology, Business Management, and training, she has helped many to manage stress, develop resilience, balance work & home and face change positively.

In a world that often prioritizes productivity and hustle, our mental health should not take the backseat. Ivana agrees and shares her thoughts on this - "Sometimes we have too much on our plate and yet, we want to do it all. We may end up feeling overwhelmed, stressed and worn out. It's ok to 'say no', delegate, take a break or ask for help. Only when we take good care of ourselves we can take good care of everything else."

If you would like to know more about Ivana or book her for your next event, please check out her profile on our website.

Bhali Gill is a Psychologist, Executive & Career Coach, Speaker and Lead Trainer. She is also the founder of Corporate Well-being and Conscious Unicorn, where they create productive, mentally healthy, and positive workplaces for employees and organisations.

Today Bhali shares her own personal story and how self-care is essential. "'I don't have time to take a break or practice self-care at the moment. I just need to get through this first.' As these words came out of my mouth, I realized I sounded like a client of mine who was experiencing work overload and on the verge of burnout. I had booked a road trip for the family, which I hadn't known would coincide with our move-in date. Having just relocated to a new country and move into our rental - it felt like a lot. As we left our home (which looked like a 'typhoon' had swept in) for our trip, I was beating myself up for leaving in the midst of the chaos. For not taking care of all the 'stuff' first before taking a break.After a few days into the trip, I could feel my nervous system calming down, enjoying every moment of the trip and realizing that this was EXACTLY what I needed. I came back from the trip with renewed energy and was so much more productive. We tend to forget everything we love and enjoy that helps us stay grounded when we're busy. Why? Because it feels like "a waste of time", "irresponsible" or "there are more pressing issues to deal with". Here are some tips on self-care:

1. Schedule time for self-care - it's not selfish, it's essential.
2. Plan an 'agenda-less' fun activity.
3. Give yourself permission to say "no".
4. Don't let other people's expectations become yours.
5. Write down 3 things you are grateful for about yourself.

If you want to know more about Bhali or book her for your next event, please check out her profile on our website.

Lissy Ann Puno is a Counselling Psychologist and Certified Imago Relationship Therapist. She is one of the founding directors of International Counselling & Psychology Centre. Lissy focuses in her practice on promoting emotional wellness.

With 27 years of experience she shares her insights on this necessary topic. "The pressures of today's fast-paced, multi-tasking lifestyle act as mental health stressors, understanding these stressors is key to maintaining emotional regulation and preventing psychological distress from setting in. Good mental health is an option for everyone. Let's talk about it, work on it together and support the healing journey. Choose emotional well-being and psychological wellness at all times. Make it a priority today!"

To learn more about Lissy or to book her for your next event, please check out her profile on our website.

Nathalie Ricaud - Home and Life Organising Coach. She is a professional organizer and is the founder of Get?Organised?& Beyond who shares in her talks, the transformation that happens in individuals and their families, not only with their physical spaces but also at a mental and emotional level, when simple yet effective solutions are put in place to get organized or regain control over their schedules.?

Nathalie's take on mental well-being is "FREE YOURSELF FROM THE CLUTTER IN YOUR HOME AND LIFE. It will:

• Increase your energy - piles of clothes, books, or children’s toys is bound to suck your energy. ?Same with sitting down at a desk covered with scraps of paper and uncapped pens. Your brain needs more energy to process all there’s around you and focus which makes you feel tired before even getting up or starting any work. People typically get a real energy boost when they get rid of stuff they don’t need.
• Reduce your stress level - People who own more things than their space can accommodate, or who try to fit in more activities and tasks than their schedule can take, report feeling guilty because they feel they lost control. Streamlining your possessions and getting rid of activities that don’t serve your professional and personal goals will help you regain control and make you feel more at peace.
• Increase your self-esteem - Messiness and lateness are often associated with failure, so by clearing clutter, you’ll likely regain your self-esteem.?
• Bring you happiness - We enjoy our surroundings more when each thing we own has its own place – and can be found in its place.? Our mood is improved and so are our relationships as we spend less time arguing with our spouse and children over clutter or lateness.
• Provide you with clarity - Clearing clutter involves letting go of the past and of some of your hopes for the future.? In the process, you’ll figure out what’s really important in your life at that point in time.? And you’ll be able to make room for it because you’ll have less stuff to take care of. ?

To know more about Nathalie or to book her for your next event, please check out her profile.

Karolina Gwinner is a Leadership Speaker who empowers leaders to invest their energy and attention into what matters and to thrive by becoming more intentional, mindful, and resilient. She Co-authored the book titled “Breakthrough: Secrets of Growth, Happiness, And?Bouncebacks?from?Women Around?the?World” which aims at helping leaders discover what truly matters to them and find the courage to act on it. Karolina is also the Co-Speaker Training Lead for?KeyNote Women.

Today she shares her thoughts on mental health. “'If you don’t stop to regularly refuel, the lack of fuel will ultimately stop you.' As we’re striving to achieve our goals, let’s not forget our ‘batteries’ have limits and need regular recharging to keep us going. Sleep, rest and me-time which many of us tend to sacrifice when life gets challenging are the keys to maintaining strong mental health. In fact, many high performers are as committed to recharging as they are to giving their best at work, in sports, on stage and so on. They understand how critical recovery is in sustaining their peak performance in the long run. So, let’s no longer ignore our need for sufficient sleep, rest and me-time but rather let’s be strategic about making time for them and treating them as non-negotiable."

To find out more about Karolina or book her for your next event, please check her profile on our website.

As we're closing on World Mental Health Awareness Month, let's not stop now but continue to recognize the importance of mental well-being in our lives, both personally and professionally. Challenge yourself to examine your world and how it can affect your overall health. Look around, look within – from your neighborhood to genetics, many factors come into play when it comes to your mental health.

#mentalhealth #wellbeing #selfcare