Episode 2 – 13th March 2023

BREAKING THE STIGMA

Talking About Mental Health

 

“But what’s the impact of that stigma? How does it work in terms of preventing people from seeking help or talking about their mental health struggles? That stigma is a real and powerful thing. We are humans. Regardless of how much we think we’re above all that and we’re not worried or care what people think of us, stigmas still work. They’re still present. They’re still part of controlling our behaviour.”

 

Episode Keywords:

Mental Health, Stigma, Mental Illness, Breaking Stigma, Mental Well-being, Celebrities, Sportspeople, Misconceptions, Mental Health Outcomes, Adolescents, Transitioning to Adulthood, Depression, Anxiety, Mental Health Disorders, Discrimination, Supportive Society, Public Policy, Self-Care, Mental Health Awareness, Mental Health Treatment

 

Episode Summary

In today’s episode, we explore the importance of breaking the stigma surrounding mental health and how it benefits not only those living with mental health disturbances but also their friends, family, and the community at large. We discuss the progress made in recent years, particularly by celebrities and sportspeople speaking openly about their experiences. We also touch on the difference between mental health and mental illness, the importance of maintaining good mental health, and some misconceptions surrounding these topics. Overall, our goal is to better understand how we can further break the stigma and improve the mental well-being of everyone in our society. We delve into a paper titled “The Role of Mental Health Stigma in Discrimination and Mental Health Outcomes Among Adolescents Transitioning to Adulthood. ” This study explores the relationship between mental health stigma, discrimination, and mental health outcomes in adolescents transitioning to adulthood. Researchers found that experiences of stigma and discrimination were associated with worse mental health outcomes over time, including increased symptoms of depression, anxiety, and mental health disorders. The study highlights the negative impact of stigma and discrimination on young people’s mental health and emphasizes the need to address these issues throughout childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Join us as we discuss how to break the stigma surrounding mental health and work towards a more supportive and understanding society.

Chapter Summaries

(0:00:01) – Breaking the Stigma of Mental Health (8 Minutes

Today, we explore the importance of breaking the stigma surrounding mental health and how it benefits not only those living with mental health disturbances but also their friends, family, and the community at large. We discuss the progress made in recent years, particularly by celebrities and sportspeople speaking openly about their experiences. We also touch on the difference between mental health and mental illness, the importance of maintaining good mental health, and some misconceptions surrounding these topics. Overall, our goal is to better understand how we can further break the stigma and improve the mental well-being of everyone in our society’

(0:08:28) – Breaking Mental Health Stigma (13 Minutes)

In this discussion, we address common misconceptions about mental illness and the impact of stigma on those affected. It is important to recognize that mental illness is not a sign of weakness, it can be treated, and it does not always equal danger. Furthermore, mental illness affects people from all walks of life and backgrounds. The stigma surrounding mental health issues can lead to shame, isolation, and difficulty accessing necessary care. To combat this, we must prioritise mental health in both public policy and our own lives, practice self-care, and create a supportive environment where people feel comfortable discussing their struggles without judgment’

(0:21:35) – Mental Health Stigma Impact (17 Minutes)

We delve into a paper titled “The Role of Mental Health Stigma in Discrimination and Mental Health Outcomes Among Adolescents Transitioning to Adulthood” This study explores the relationship between mental health stigma, discrimination, and mental health outcomes in adolescents transitioning to adulthood. Researchers found that experiences of stigma and discrimination were associated with worse mental health outcomes over time, including increased symptoms of depression, anxiety, and mental health disorders. The study highlights the negative impact of stigma and discrimination on young people’s mental health and emphasises the need to address these issues throughout childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.

 

The 4 Takeaway Tips This Week

1. Encourage open conversations.

2. Educate yourself and others about mental health.

3. Advocate for policies and practices that support mental health and wellbeing.

4. Share information about hotlines and support groups.

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Episode Transcript

G;Day. Today, on the reboot you’re thinking podcasts, we’re gonna talk about breaking the stigma and talking about mental health and how that help so many people, you know, not just the people who are actually living with some disturbance to the mental health, but people around them, their friends, their family, the community, at large, you know, the population at large, those who don’t live with a mental illness as well. You know, I think we’ve done so much better in recent years with this. And, you know, there’s a lot now spoken about this stuff, especially from people who are in a, like, sports people or celebrities, whatever that means and and so on. But I think also just, you know, looks at the pub and girls talking to each other about, you know, what’s going on for them and all of that sort of stuff is so much better than it used to be. Not that it was it was going from a pretty low mark anyway, but, you know, we are doing much better with it. But today, I wanna just wanna talk about, you know, how we can break that stigma a little bit further and how we might be able to do better in this in this way for for people who are living with mental illness and those around them as well. So as usual, I’m gonna talk a little bit about the theme and the topic that being breaking the stigma. Then we’re gonna share a peer reviewed academic paper, introduce some science into it. And then maybe some some tips at at the end.

 

0:01:33

So to start with the content, you know, what what is mental health? Right? What does it mean to have good mental health? You know, I think I think people know or have a have an idea what it means to be healthy, what it means to have physical health. Your your physical health in good in good nick. But, you know, what defines good mental health, I think, is a little bit more abstract and I always think, you know, one day we’re gonna have this conversation about mental health and it’s just gonna be about health, you know. And and our mental health is gonna be just one branch on the tree of health in general. We’re not quite there yet. And, I guess, this is what we’re talking about today, but you know, eventually we’re going to just say, is someone healthy? Like, do they can they do, you know, twenty ascots. Can they do a five k run? Can they get through a day without having negative intrusive thoughts? Like, these things are going to be just part of the course in all of that eventually. And hopefully, that eventually isn’t too far away.

 

0:02:43

So But let’s look at it, what it really means. So mental health refers to, you know, our our emotional, our psychological and our social well-being, our connectedness to ourselves and others, and our community, and how we how we cope with things, how how we emotionally deal with things and how whether those emotions interact with a negative psychological response for us. And all of those things add up to what what mental health really means. You know, it affects how we how we think, how we feel, how we act. It impacts our daily ability to cope with the stresses of life. Our ability to form relationships, our ability to make decisions, our ability to keep ourselves safe, and those people around us safe. As well. You know, good mental health means when we have good mental health, you know, that means we have the ability to manage and cope with the challenges of life in a in a healthy way, in a constructive way, in an involves feeling generally positive and content with yourself and and with your life, you know. Not always thinking you know, and and there’s a difference here, I think, between ambition and poor mental health. You know, ambition sometimes can mean that you’re not content with your life. That’s not what I mean. I I mean, you know, are we really happy and safe and being functional and appropriately dealing with the things that life chucks at us. You know, that’s that’s good mental health as opposed to poor mental health. So what’s what’s the difference then between mental health and mental illness, you know.

 

0:04:36

Well, if mental health refers to our overall emotional, psychological, and social connectedness and our social well-being, then mental illness refers to a diagnosable condition. That affects one’s mental health. So, you know, it’s not just feeling a bit sad for a moment or it’s not just having a crappy day or it’s not just being stressed about an upcoming exam and and whatever. It’s it’s much more involved than that and it’s much more interconnected than that within ourselves as well. So it can be it can kind of grow it can show up and manifest. So in in in in a variety of ways, you know, such as depression or anxiety or bipolar disorder or schizophrenia or yeah. A million other ways. Really? Excuse me. A million other ways really. It’s the mental illness part of it is the diagnosable part that the tangible part, the part that you can look at a textbook and go, oh, that’s it. You you know, whereas whereas mental health is just, you know, the overall well-being of our cycle of our psychology, of our emotions, of our sociability. Yeah. So that’s that’s that’s the difference, I guess.

 

0:05:59

And well, if that’s the difference then, well, what’s the importance of maintaining good mental health? Why is that important? And it might seem really obvious, but it’s not obvious to everyone. You know? I have a therapy practice build on people who It wasn’t obvious too for a for a long time I mean, or for a period of time, sometimes a long time. So maintaining good health, good mental health is is crucial to our overall little being and our quality of life, you know.

 

0:06:29

Good having a good mental health means that we can form healthy relationships. It means that we can manage our stress and cope with appeal. That means we can manage our emotions appropriately. It means that we can make good decisions and have you know, a fulfilling life. That might all seem a given if you’re if you’re sitting and listening to this and you have never had a mental health disturbance which makes me wonder why you’re listening to this. But but I’m grateful for you to do that. But, you know, if you if you’re asking there, I think, well, I can’t relate to any of that, then then that’s great. That means you are living your fulfilling life. That means you’re able to manage your stress and manage your emotions and make good good decisions and you know, manage your relationships and have healthy relationships. For for a lot of people, that’s not possible. In the short term, at least, it’s not possible.

 

0:07:24

So Maintaining a good a good mental health, I think, also helps us to build resilience in the face of challenges and adversities that we that we come up against in. Resilience is an interesting one, and I’m gonna do a full full episode on this not in a minute, shortly coming up. Because, you know, I think people think resilience is just something that’s sitting in inside all of us and we just have to open it up. And sometimes it’s really hard to find that resilience and some people just don’t have it. You know, we have to build it. It’s a muscle. So yeah. So I think all of those things come down to maintaining, you know, good mental health.

 

0:08:06

So the problem or not the problem, but one of the issues with mental illness and and mental health is that there are all these misconceptions. There are all these sort of ideas that people have about or misconceptions. Yeah. Ideas that people have about mental health and mental illness. And so let’s talk about a few of that.

 

0:08:28

So number one, that mental illness is just weakness is a sign of weakness. And I can tell you that The majority of the people that I deal with that I work with who in a therapeutic situation, who have a mental illness, or have a Medi might not have a diagnosed disorder, but they have some disturbance to their mental health at that at that time. And they are anything but weak, you know, to put to be able to put their hand up and and go and tell, albeit a stranger, go and tell a stranger there. Most inner most difficult negative thoughts and and things that they see as their failings. That doesn’t that doesn’t sound like weakness to me. You know, if someone can get through life, for a short or a long period of time given how many challenges they have upon them and how difficult day to day life can be for them. Then they’re not weak. That’s not weakness. You know, it doesn’t just attack weakness. It attacks everyone And so to say that mental illness has is a sign of weaknesses, it’s just a bit of a jerk move, really.

 

0:09:42

And especially if we’re saying that to ourselves, So yeah. So I don’t think that’s a that’s a big misconception that that I deal with a lot. Now without making a gender generalization. A lot of blokes that I deal with have put off coming to work with me because they have felt weak or they’ve felt that I would think they felt they were weak, you know. Or whatever, and nothing could be further from the truth. You know, I I live with mental illness myself. I I wouldn’t say that I’m weak. It’s not a weakness of mine. And my mental health is actually a bit of a strength of mine, but we’ll we’ll get onto that in later episodes too. But Yeah. Mental health is a sign of weakness is a big misconception, and it’s absolutely wrong.

 

0:10:30

Number two, that it can’t be treated. You know, that there’s things some people say to me, oh, it’s just part of my makeup. I know, you know, it’s just something I’ve lived with my whole life. So there’s no point trying to treat it or trying to look into it. It’s just me. It’s just part of me. It’s just how I’m wired or Yep. It was all sorts of things like that. And none of that is true. Any disturbance to our health Right? Our health can be treated.

 

0:11:00

Now, some things can’t be cured. Right? But at the moment, at least, some things can’t be cured, but they can all be treated. They they can be a treatment of symptoms arising from an illness or disorder that slows it down, that makes it less noticeable, that makes it more livable with. That in some ways, in some in some instances can cure it. You know, it can be cured if there is a cure for it. So I’m not talking about things like, yeah, I don’t know. Different types of cancer or dementia or or whatever. There’s no at the moment, there’s no cure for those things, but the symptoms can be treated. And mental illnesses like that. If if, you know, there’s lots of lots and lots and lots of data and research that says a lot of these mental illnesses can be cured. One hundred percent.

 

0:11:57

And, you know, it’s often just that taking that first step, that first that first acknowledgement into it that is that is a difficult part and there’s a big misconception about it. It can’t be treated. It can’t be QA so why bother. And, yeah, I’d love to do what we can to change that. You know. Another misconception is that mental illness mental illness equals danger that people with mental illness are dangerous. And, man, some mental illness, some people with some mental illnesses at some moment yeah, there’s some danger involved in that to other people if there’s a bit of erraticness or I don’t know. In the most most extreme things where where people are physically violent or or whatever. But, god, ninety eight percent of people that’s not a step by the way. Don’t Google that. But, you know, the majority of people, the vast majority of people aren’t dangerous. They’re just they just sick, you know. They just they just have an illness.

 

0:13:00

And I always I always think of this when we think about the shame and the weakness part of it to just taking a step back for one sec that, you know, if if somebody has asthma, then they use an inhaler. If somebody breaks their arm, then they wear a car. Fast. If if somebody has rheumatoid arthritis and they go to the doctor and they get some medication for that. Now, I I don’t see mental health any differently to any other disturbance of physical health like those three examples. But you know, if somebody has a mental illness and they prescribe medication, people feel weird about that, people feel shame about that and wanna hide it. You know, if somebody is addicted to a substance and they go into rehab, they’ll make up a story as to why they’re gone for three weeks and not that they’re in rehab. These these things come out of shame. Nothing else. You know, it’s not whether they think they’re dangerous or whether they think they experiencing something that can’t be cured or even that they wake you know, it just comes from shame and I’d love to cut through that as much as we can too. So Another misconception then is that it only this is a big one, that it only affects the mental illness only affects a certain group of people.

 

0:14:16

Certain types of people. You know, when in reality of it is that mental health is important for everyone and regardless of their background or their experiences or their life or their trauma, mental illness can affect everyone and does affect everyone. It’s not one thing or another. It’s not one type of person. It’s not one group of people. And trust me on this, my client base speaks to that. It’s not all one sort of person. It’s not all one gender. It’s not all one socioeconomic background. It’s not all one condition. It’s not all one trauma. It’s not all one life experience. There’s it is honestly the entire gamut of people. And it’s really important to know that because I think when we know that, we don’t feel so alone if we don’t identify as being part of the group that we identify as being the ones who are more likely to experience this stuff, It’s just it’s just not true.

 

0:15:22

So there the misconceptions are at least the first three or four of them. There’s there’s a lot of them. So what’s the impact of the stigma then? You know, we’re here today talking about how to break the stigma, how to talk about it more. But what’s the impact of that stigma? You know, how how how does stigma work in terms of preventing people from seeking help or or talking about their mental health struggles. And and the stigma is a real powerful thing. It’s humans Regardless of how much we think we’re above all that and we’re not we don’t care what people think and and whatever about whatever it is in our life. Stigmas still work. They’re still present. They’re still part of controlling our behavior.

 

0:16:08

You know, and there’s a societal stigma here that perpetuates discrimination and and perpetuates the marginalization of people with with mental illness. And it happens right through from from conversations you have with your with your inner network, right through to media at large. The mass media, large movies that are made. You know, the way that mental illness is depicted in movies is disgraceful. On the on the on the wider scale of it. It’s it’s unreal. And, like, literally, it’s unreal. The way that it’s put the way that it’s kind of portrayed. And I always think, you know, movies actors in these movies must be playing people, and some of them must be dealing with stuff themselves. Right? Because the stats play that out. And to be to be playing this stuff in a movie must so difficult when you can when you can see that it’s not real. But anyway, that’s a different conversation, I guess.

 

0:17:06

But stigma can have a very, very profound and lasting impact on mental health. Right? It can make people feel that shame or embarrassment about it. Initially, even putting their hand up and seeking help. Which in turn then leads to isolation and hopelessness and withdraw withdraw, you know, where people just become very, very small and have a very small life and I think it was really sad, you know, in stigma can also prevent people from even putting their hand up, accessing the help they need, you know, trying to get the care that they need. Which obviously makes their mental health systems worse and makes recovery more difficult. And so I think it’s super important that we concentrate on reducing the stigma of this stuff by by educating people about mental health, by promoting understanding, promoting empathy, advocating for people, advocating that people have equal access to mental health services that these are things you know, that that are important for everyone, not for a certain group of people, not just at some time, not just for dangerous people, all of that crap we talked about before. Like, we’ve got to have an understanding that says everybody’s at risk of these stuff so everybody requires and deserves and needs equal access to mental health services as well. That’s the impact of state governmental health is is that stuff is reduced, and that’s really sad and really hard.

 

0:18:43

So the importance then of taking action on mental health. It’s crucial, right, because maintaining good mental health prevents the onset of mental illness. Even if you wanna take it from a completely financial and economics point of view, it reduces the burden on the public health system. It reduces the burden on tax paid. It reduces the burden on on general practice. And on that ecosystem, which is already bad enough. You know, it can help in a lot of ways.

 

0:19:15

But But we can also help ourselves here. Like, we can take some action on our own health here or our mental health here. By, you know, seeking professional help when we need it, by practicing self care, by connecting with others, by engaging in activities that are meaningful for us. Right? It’s important to prioritize mental health, not just in public policy, But in our own policy, our own life policy, you know, to to to advocate for ourselves, put our hair that when we need it. To, you know, to ask somebody else, are you okay? You know, how how are you doing? Is there something you wanna talk about? By providing a space in which people can talk about their health, whether it be their physical or their mental health, and and whether where they can feel like they’re not being judged, whether not being, you know, thought of in a certain way where they’re not gonna be gossiped about or shamed or anything else. So, yeah, there’s a lot we can do to in the in the promotion of mental health, there’s a lot that we can do for ourselves, and there’s certainly a lot that we can do for other people as well in this. So that’s the first kind of thing. The first bit, I guess, about the content, about social stigma about mental health and mental illness. I think we can do better. I think we are doing better, but there’s certainly a long way still laughing, a long way to go. Okay. So in this section, then we’re gonna talk about our academic paper each each episode.

 

0:21:35

And the paper that I’ve chosen today is titled the role of mental health stigma in discrimination and mental health outcomes. Among adolescents transitioning to adulthood. It’s a longitudinal study. The authors of Banca Fronna, Cheryl Catawaka, and Genie Miranda. It was published in the Journal of adolescent health in two thousand and nineteen, and I’ll put the link in the show notes. This I love this this focus because the study examines the relationship between the stigma of mental health.

 

0:22:08

Discrimination, mental health outcomes in a group of adolescents who are transitioning adult adulthood. It’s it’s a real time in our life. Where this stuff’s really important because there’s a lot going on. There’s a lot going on when you go from from childhood to adolescence. There’s a lot, again, going on from adolescence into adulthood, and some people don’t make that transition so well or so easily. For a lot of people, it’s a very difficult time in their life. It was a difficult time in my life. And so I know what that’s like.

 

0:22:41

This paper looked into those things and how discrimination would played a part in that transition and and especially around the stigma of mental health during that time. And the researchers found that experience of stigma Experiences of stigma and discrimination were associated with the worst mental health outcomes over time, so not just in that initial period, but then logically so which means, you know, looking forward over a time period. It included, you know, increased symptoms of depression, anxiety. Increased symptoms of mental health disorders such as bipolar schizophrenia, things that were otherwise shrouded and and, you know, covered and and in this case, they definitely were and the stigma that kept them there and made them worse. Right? So it just sort of scientifically studies over over a period of time that these things don’t get better if they’re sticking around them. These things don’t get better if they’re not talked about and if they’re not treated. Now I know that might seem really obvious, but it’s obviously not obvious because the stigma is still existing in all these things and it’s making it worse.

 

0:23:50

You know, the study highlighted the the negative impact of stigma and discrimination can have and did have on these young people’s mental health. And and and the overwhelming need to address these issues. In childhood, adolescence, and into adulthood, it was really important that these things were highlighted to to occur through that period and interventions during that period could have made a difference. Right? And didn’t. So it’s it’s not to say that that people access these services and and access help and more it helped and didn’t get any better. That wasn’t true. The study focused mainly on the fact that the majority of people didn’t seek help because of discrimination. And didn’t seek help because of stigma. And because they didn’t seek help, these things got worse and worse over time and actually affected them right through. To adulthood. Right? So it’s a societal thing.

 

0:24:52

This wasn’t that’s the other thing about this paper. It was a very wide range of young people. It wasn’t a certain group. It wasn’t a certain socioeconomics. It wasn’t a certain race or gender or or low occasion, physically or geography. It was it was a real study across the board of of people who were going through this stuff. And so it wasn’t a there isn’t a group of people living in a certain country, in a certain town, earning a certain amount of money, having a certain amount of wealth or privilege that do better or worse in this, it was across the board. Right?

 

0:25:27

So I think it’s important when you look at this study and studies like it. That it highlights, one, the impact of sigma mental health, obviously. But it also, two, highlights ways to reduce that stigma in society. And and there’s lots of really good ideas in it and and really ways that people could have been helped and should have been helped at a time where they really needed it and they weren’t helped. So if we can do better in If if all we can do, if the only change we make, is that we reduce stigma around somebody asking for help and that is already a massive step towards helping people who need it, towards reducing adulthood, mental illness. And to reducing the burden of that on them, on us, on ratepayers, on taxpayers, on the public health system.

 

0:26:20

You know, there’s a lot of really good trickle down stuff that comes out of that initially, that initial kind of focus on somebody when they’re in. Childhood adolescence early adulthood to be able to say something going on with you. Like, what’s going on? You it seemed okay. Is there any way I can help? What Do you wanna talk about that? Whatever it might be? And this paper is a really good example of that, and I will put the the links of the paper in the show notes so you can have a read for yourself. And yeah, it’s really it’s really worthwhile reading and it’s got some really good points to it. So I’ll put the linking notes. And then finally today, some tips about reducing the amount of stigma and reducing the the shame, you know, really about people investigating their own mental health disturbances people investing in their own mental health, you know, and the very first one is the obvious one. It’s encouraging open conversations. It’s this. Right? It’s what we’re doing today. Breaking the stigma through talking about mental health and talking about mental illness and trying to hurry the period between now and between when we just talk about mental health as being part of our health.

 

0:28:15

As I said, right at the start, you know, I do think we’re doing better in this. We’re obviously doing better in this. It’s a conversation that’s happening. I mean, I’m producing this podcast episode and somebody’s listening to it. That means we’re doing better. Right? But the more and more we can do better There’s still lots of ways that we could we can improve this. There’s still lots of ways in which we can make mental health more Part of our conversation every every day, part of our vernacular, part of our media consumption. Part of the accepted stuff that says, you know, it’s not weak. It’s not only happening to certain people. It’s not something that can’t be cured and can’t be treated. Right? So the more we have those conversations, the better encouraging open conversations about mental health is a big, obviously, a big tip going forward.

 

0:29:06

Number two is educating yourself and others about mental health. And and and what I mean is people who are whether whether yourself is describing somebody who lives with a mental health disturbance or whether whether that you’re an ally, whether you’re a supporter or someone in the network of somebody who lives with mental illness. There’s lots and lots of education around and lots of it is free and accessible you know, if you’re listening to this in Australia, then you have a lot of different access to, you know, beyond blue men’s help line, black doggings shoot lots of different nonprofits that are set up now that are specifically about providing community education, cutting through the stigma, cutting through the shame of this. So I’d really encourage you really support you to educate yourself as much as you can about this stuff. Because even somebody like me who works in this space all the time in therapeutic alliances with people and working in therapy with people. You know, there’s things that I learned all day every day about this stuff. And and even and I think the biggest thing that’s important to learn is that person a with general anxiety disorder and person b with general general anxiety disorder will be completely different people having a completely different experience. You know, it comes from it it might stem from completely different types of trauma at different ages. You know, like, there’s there’s there’s a lot of moving parts here. There are a lot of variables. And I think the more we can educate ourselves about these things, generally, means, you know, the more able will be able to exert that education and use that knowledge. When it’s down in the granular minutia of of different people experiencing different things. So I’d really support you educate yourself and look at some of these things. And learn as much as she can. Don’t be frightened of it. You know, be be curious. There’s nothing ever came. Nothing bad ever came from being curious. You know? Except the cat, they’d be curious.

 

0:31:14

Number three is advocating for policies and practices that support mental health and wellness, you know. Try and try and be an ally. Try and try and speak for yourself and advocate for yourself if if you’re somebody who loses mental illness. Like, try and have that conversation had at work. At sport in social situations. We can all do this. We can all advocate for ourselves in in terms of just the conversation, but we can also advocate for policy and practice change, you know, that that that there’s time off from work for mental health days that there is a day that you that you celebrate at work, that you celebrate neurodiversity. That you celebrate difference, that you celebrate mental illness, and mental health as a as a positive factor in in your workplace. So what whatever it might be, you know, but those those things definitely reduce the stigma because if you’re whether you’re somebody who lives with mental health mental illness or mental health disturbance or not, If if you are advocating for these things, if you’re being an advocate and speaking out for this stuff, people who who are living with a mental health disorder who, you know, are quiet about it or or have shame about it or or making themselves small about it or worry that somebody else is gonna find out.

 

0:32:37

They see that you being a good advocate for that. That that is a really encouraging strengthening, loving thing that you can do for someone else, and you’ll never understand, you’ll never appreciate just how powerful that is for somebody else, and just what that means to somebody else. So I’d really support you to do that as much as you can. And then the last thing is sharing information about hotline support groups, therapy options. Other resources that can help people access mental health support. You know, not rolling your eyes and scoffing at trigger warnings when you see them.

 

0:33:14

Having a trigger warning for yourself and making sure that you know, if you’re going to talk about a friend who has some suicidal ideation or perhaps even died by suicide, just acknowledging that that the group that you’re talking to, the person that you’re talking to might might be not ready to have that conversation. Right? If you’re talking about complex PTSD like I live with, I’m always really careful about who I talk to about that. And because you never know what somebody else is experiencing who who might be in in that audience. So, you know, being able to really be consciously aware of that, being empathetic of that. But also then, you know, being able to to being able if you’re in Australia, you’ll you’ll know that lifeline is it’s just turned had a big birthday. It’s been around a long, long time. And every Australian, everybody can ring thirteen, eleven, fourteen at any time twenty four hours a day to get some support when they need that.

 

0:34:13

And, you know, I’d certainly say that if if stuff has come up in this episode for people that that, you know, reach out to something like lifeline. If it’s not if you’re not listening in Australia, find find what you’re what the what the local support is, that support hotline isn’t given the call. But there’s support groups available for different people that are that living with a certain type of mental illness or people who are living with people who live with a certain type of mental illness. There’s lots of care support groups. There’s lots of different options. And and the more that we can share information about that stuff, and the more that we can follow, you know, on Instagram and share Instagram posts from these from these agencies, from these support groups, from these hotlines. The more that we can do that, You know, you never know the life you might save or at least the life you might change by being an ally, by sharing some of that stuff, and I’d really really support you to do that as much as you feel comfortable doing because you just you just never know the amount of impact that you’re gonna have on that. So that’s that’s it.

 

0:35:22

That’s today’s session about sharing stigma. I really hope you can take some of those tips and and go forward with them. I really hope that you can have a conversation with somebody about your own mental health disturbance or about theirs potentially. In a way that is non judgmental, in a way that is kind, in a way that shows love and empathy for something that you don’t entirely understand or can’t entirely relate to. You never know the difference you’re gonna make. Trust me. I know a hundred stories anecdotal stories that have been told to me by my clients and other people that I’ve heard, you know, where somebody just saying, are you doing alright? You don’t seem alright? Like, You wanna talk about something? What’s going on for you? Whatever whatever way you broached that conversation? Has literally I know, literally saved someone’s life in before. So don’t underestimate the power of that. Share your own experience, ask people about their experience. And, yeah, together we can we can really make a difference. We can start to break down some of this stuff. It’s already started, but certainly we have a long way to go, and and we can be the agents of changing that. So Yeah. That’s all I’ve got for you today. I hope that you can take some of those tips and go forward. I hope that you’re doing well wherever you are. I try to be the best version of yourself tonight. Main time.

 

0:37:57

Thank you for listening to this episode of can reboot your thinking in the podcast. I really appreciate your support, and I’m stuck to have this part of your world in Sonya. If you like what I’m doing here, please think about Lizzie’s comment as giving me a bright star view on whatever you are listening to me. It really helps. And I’ll be really grateful. And follow me. I am happy about it across all the socials or you can visit my website at w w w dot dot nicholas dot com. Send me a voice message or any questions you would like to answer, and you could be featured in a premium episode. This track is good person, both hot wings, instant music, also subscribe to a salt pro music, And please remember, it’s okay to seek help and support. If anything I’ve talked about today has resonated with you or around any concerns, please reach out to Momentum, a professional or trusted support system. If you’re in Australia, please call my friend on the thirteenth. Eleven fourteen. You don’t have to go through it.

 
 

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