World Mental Health Day 2021

The word ‘mental’ takes root from the Latin word ‘mentalis’ which roughly translates to ‘mind’ – so mental health is simply health, or state of, the mind. We all have a mind and so we all have mental health all of the time – we just experience it in unique ways.

We perceive everything in our environment through the filter of the mind – so it really and truly makes sense to nurture the health of our mind. This helps us become aware that our mental health is continuously fluctuating across a spectrum and it’s okay to experience the full range. I find this model from #DelphisLearning useful and reassuring - upon review, it’s evident I likely experience the full spectrum in just one day, let alone a month, year, or decade. You may resonate too…??

So, every day is a day for acknowledging our mental health – but today especially is an opportunity to begin talking about our mental health, learn about how we can nurture good mental health, notice when we may be finding things challenging and the importance of seeking help if we feel we’re struggling. The point being, we don’t need to wait until we’re not able to function or ‘officially’ diagnosed with a mental health condition to begin looking at ways we can proactively look after our mental wellbeing – here are 5 daily habits that help boost your mental wellbeing via #Unmind.

In my experience, there is a sense that the word ‘mental’ had been hijacked and used as a derogatory term, as kids an insult in response to someone doing something unfamiliar would be ‘ha you’re mental’ – I vividly remember a friend’s mum telling him he’d be shipped off to a ‘funny farm’ (mental asylum) if he didn’t behave. There is still a stigma attached to mental health problems, more or less depending on factors including age / generation (your parents may have survived world wars without any mental health support), socio-economic background (I’m half-way through Sedated - How Modern Capitalism Created Our Mental Health Crisis by James Davies and would recommend for anyone interested in some of the deeper rooted issues impacting our individual and collective mental health) and cultural background (e.g. being Indian / British-Asian, it often feels like mental health is an illusion and a ‘modern excuse’, after all I didn’t go through what the elder generations went through in order to create a foothold in a foreign land so that I may have certain freedoms). All makes for a solid barrier to sharing our feelings in general, let alone ‘mental health issues’ – but thankfully, that is changing.

An important factor in the continuing awareness and willingness to discuss mental health is the language that we use in our conversations around the subject, in fact it’s vital in weaving the topic into the fabric of society so that one day we chat about it with the same causality you would when ‘weekend plans’ is the topic. Is it accessible to all? Or does it perpetuate the stigma? This is a fantastic resource for anyone whether in or out of the workplace, it covers everything from our tone of voice to common terms we may consider replacing for more positive language: How we talk about mental health (via #Unmind)

I am lucky working at an organisation like #ThriveTribe - promoting and supporting healthy lifestyle change means that we’re looked after. The Mental Health First Aid training we all receive, helps to put into context what mental health is about and to be able to spot signs of when the mental health of others (and ourselves) may be declining and what to do in response. The partnership with the excellent #Sanctus (https://sanctus.io/) provides us a 45-min mental health session is an opportunity to speak candidly with an expert coach – a monthly check-in has been invaluable to me, the expert coach not there to give advice instead create an environment which enables vulnerability – to take the ‘mask off’ and share what’s on my mind without any fear of judgement; the mere release of what’s been contained within, often the necessary antidote. ??

I never would have called my own psychological suffering a ‘mental health issue’ this past year (or any year for that matter) – this is something that ‘other people’ go through, although clearly it has been. When taking the time to review the mental health spectrum and see where I fit in any moment it makes sense to me why I’ve not slept properly in over 2 weeks; to talk and give air to what’s on my mind and what I’m feeling; and generally slowing down to pay attention to how or what I am feeling without judging myself for it, has all helped me to come to terms with the ever-fluctuating nature of the state of my mind. It’s not always going to be ‘excelling’ or ‘thriving’, as society has so long demanded, but allowing myself to be human allows me to experience the ‘struggling’ and ‘the crisis’ and take the necessary steps in those times to minimize the suffering and make changes where possible.

The silver-lining of the pandemic is that mental health now has the attention it deserves, and there is no going backwards i.e.to ignoring our mental health for fear of being thought of as weak or unproductive or even acknowledging that we have mental health, but forwards - as we as a society begin to integrate into our personal and professional lives what has been exposed over the past 18 months.