World Mental Health Day

So today is the world mental health day. Don't get me wrong, any awareness for mental health is a great thing and I applaud it but I also think that every day should be a mental health awareness day.

I hate naming these people as statistics but statistically speaking eight people will have suicided today in Australia. That is eight families who do not have their loved ones around any longer. That is eight groups of friends who have lost their mates and with the COVID lockdowns, particularly here in Victoria and especially in the Melbourne metro area, it is a frightening thought as to what the statistics will say at the end of the year.

We need to speak more, we need to reach out more, we need to understand more, we need to support more, we need to educate more and we need to call out poor behaviour more. By poor behaviour, I am looking at those who stigmatise those who are suffering, those that think it is weak to show others that you have a mental health condition and those that speak down to those that are suffering.

Who has the courage to support mental health and I mean not just around those that are already supportive, I mean around those whose behaviour is poor. Who has the courage to call out, say a manager within their work premises? Or a Captain or a Coach at a sporting club? This takes courage to do but if we are to continue on our trajectory of removing mental health stigma, we need to vigilant and not get complacent with it.

To have a positive impact on someone who is struggling is not a difficult a thing to do. Please do not be scared, your family member, your friend, your colleague or perhaps a complete stranger who is suffering, they are scared, they are confused and their brains are playing tricks on them. Just by taking the time to sit with them, no need to talk if the conversation is not there as just sitting with someone is powerful. You are showing that you care. There is a great saying, "I am not interested in how you walk with the great, I am interested in how you sit with the broken". That is where it is at.

When you have lost all resemblance of self worth, it is a supremely scary place to live so have some empathy for those that are suffering. Be empathetic, be sympathetic, be supportive, ask questions, call out stigma, call out poor behaviour, get educated and be a leader in the mental health atmosphere.

Remember those eight people who will have died today, maybe just maybe if you can have a direct hand in helping lower that number and there can be no finer service to humankind than to help save a persons life.

Be well.