Featuring: #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek

Article
By Ollie Nicholas
19/05/19

Subtitle

Our Mental Health stories

Contents

1. #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek

2. Tom's Story

3. Ollie's Story

4. Finding Support

5. A-Z of Mental Health

6. Support after suicide

7. Wellbeing in the workplace

8. Young People

All this week on DROPOUT we have dedicated posts to #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek. The fact is, almost all of us will be affected by mental health at some point of our lives. For this reason, we wanted to share our own personal experiences with mental health to help show people that it is okay to speak about how you feel.

Subtitle

Our Mental Health stories

Contents

1. #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek

2. Tom's Story

3. Ollie's Story

4. Finding Support

5. A-Z of Mental Health

6. Support after suicide

7. Wellbeing in the workplace

8. Young People

All this week on DROPOUT we have dedicated posts to #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek. The fact is, almost all of us will be affected by mental health at some point of our lives. For this reason, we wanted to share our own personal experiences with mental health to help show people that it is okay to speak about how you feel.
1. #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek

Mental health effects one in four people at some point in their life. In fact, around 450 million people currently suffer from such conditions, placing mental disorders among the leading causes of ill-health and disability worldwide (World Health Organisation). Mental health is a topic that has been very taboo in the past, but thankfully these barriers are slowly being broken down and important conversations are being initiated.

At DROPOUT we wanted to support the efforts towards recognising mental health by sharing our own experiences for #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek. We are no different to anyone else, and everyone who is part of DROPOUT has had their own unique experiences with our mental wellbeing. As you may or may not know, DROPOUT was co-founded Tom McGrath and Ollie Nicholas.

Both of us have experienced mental health issues at some point in our life. And at first, sharing our stories on DROPOUT seemed a big step, but we felt it was important to signify to all of our supporters that sharing how you feel is okay. Sharing isn’t an easy step to take, but it is often vital in beginning the road to improving your mental wellbeing. We feel that if our stories can help even one person begin to tackle their own mental health, then we have succeeded.

We feel it is important to signify to all of our supporters that sharing how you feel is okay

2. Tom's Story

So just a brief introduction to me… I graduated last July from Winchester School of Art where I studied Graphic Arts. Since then I have gone on to work in multiple design studios, alongside running DROPOUT. Currently I am working freelance on a number of projects, and honestly things are going very well. Alongside my work, I love to run. Running for me is an amazing opportunity to free myself of daily stress and worries. In fact, any form of getting out and being active really helps me to clear my mind. I suppose it acts a sort of mindfulness or mediation. As my work is often based at a screen, it’s important for me to take a step away from that environment as much as possible. Mental health is something that has only really become a part of my life in the past few years. Listen below for the story of my experience with mental health:

3. Ollie's Story

I am very proudly the co-founder of DROPOUT, producing all content on the site alongside Tom. DROPOUT has become a massive part of my life and I couldn’t be happier doing it. It’s early days, but we’ve worked with so many amazing people so far and we have big plans for the future. Alongside DROPOUT I work on other personal projects and do some part-time work to help keep my bank account alive. I enjoy writing and developing concepts for stand-up and sketch comedy and I also record and produce football podcasts and articles.

My struggles with mental health have been tough, but they’ve really pushed me to pursue ambitions that I once only romanticised. I’m nowhere near where I want to be now, but I am really enjoying the journey. If you’re stuck in a difficult moment in your life, push through it and you’ll be a better person than ever before. Thank you to everyone that has supported me so far and keep your eyes peeled, because there are big things to come from both Tom and I. Listen to my story below:

4. Find support

If you found that our stories have prompted you to tackle you own mental health, or if you have been wanting to do so for a while, rest assured there is lots of support available. We understand that the first step to getting support is often a daunting one. However, there are many amazing charities and organisations that offer free advice and support for all kinds of mental health issues. Help ranges from telephone conversations, to group discussions, to one-to-one therapy sessions. These organisations do brilliant work in providing the support that is correct to you, so whichever route you decide to take, be as honest as possible and the amazing people at each organisation will support your needs however best. Below are some places that you can contact if you have been affected by mental health.

5. A-Z of Mental Health

Someone’s mental health is a personal and unique matter that reflects individual experiences and circumstance. Whilst people may feel very alone in experiencing certain feelings and emotions, there are always others that have experienced similar feelings and there is information available that can help people to start to learn more about the emotions that they are experiencing.

The mental health charity ‘Mind’ have been providing information and advice to people with mental health problems since 1946. Using their 73 years of experience in dealing with matter relating to mental health, Mind have produced an A-Z of mental health on their website, which covers over 100 different topics relating to mental health issues.

Mind goes into detail about each issue with a range of content including information about the mental condition, suggestions of treatment and some contact information that you can use to seek help or learn more about a condition that you may suffer from. Mind have also included information that can help the friends and family of someone that may be suffering from a mental health condition.

Within each topic Mind have included personal stories of people that have experienced specific mental health struggles. This is a good opportunity to learn about some of the symptoms that others have experienced as well as hearing about how they manage their mental health. As mentioned, no mental health struggles are identical, but if you are aware that people have similar struggles it can help you devise a strategy to addressing your own mental health.

6. Support after suicide

Suicide has a huge impact not just upon immediate family, but also on friends, ex-partners, colleagues at work, and anyone who has had a personal relationship with somebody that has taken their own life. No matter how close or distant your relationship may have been, suicide is an extraordinarily difficult situation to deal with.

‘Calm’ is a mental health charity that has partnered with the ‘Support after Suicide Partnership' to provide support for people after that have been affected by suicide.

Calm makes the point that there is no right or ‘proper’ way to grieve, and everyone has different ways of dealing with their feelings. There may be guilt and remorse, shock and anger, denial, disbelief and a burning need to understand why this has happened. Sometimes people get angry with a specific person, with the world in general, or with the person who’s died. People can feel anxious about how they’re going to cope, have problems sleeping, find that they lose their appetite, feel tired all the time, or feel really down and lonely. While these are normal things to feel when someone dies, it can feel very hard to simply get through each day.

If someone close to you has taken his or her life–a relative, friend, partner, or colleague–or if you’ve witnessed a suicide, then visit the Calm website or the ‘Support after Suicide Partnership' to get support today. Also if you want to know more about the topic, watch the video below which follows rapper Professor Green as he takes an intensely personal journey to uncover the truth behind the suicide of his father.

7. Wellbeing in the workplace

We are working longer hours than ever before and for many people, the workplace can become a real source of stress and anxiety. Since we are spending so much time at work, it is important that there are practices in place that can help people manage their mental health and wellbeing within the workplace.

Samaritans is a charity that is dedicated to reducing feelings of isolation and disconnection that can lead to suicide. They have developed a range of programmes that can be implemented within the workplace that teaches employees the skills to look after their emotional health and look out for others, before they reach crisis point.

Their ‘Wellbeing in the Workplace’ online learning allows you to learn at your own pace either at your desk or at home. In as little as five minutes, you can learn skills that will help you understand the importance of emotional health and have the confidence to reach out to a colleague, friend or family member who might be struggling to cope. Implement this program or something similar at your workplace (if you haven’t already) because you have an obligation to look out for your employees and colleagues.

Suicide is an enormous tragedy, especially when there is opportunity to prevent it

8. Young People

Mental health can be particularly difficult to understand when you’re a young person. Naturally as you grow up you are constantly learning new things about the world and about yourself. Whilst you navigate through life at school and at home, you’ll experience different issues relating to friendships, relationships, sexuality, changes to your body and other issues like bullying. These can all be very confusing and it’s best that you seek and help and talk about these issues, rather than isolating yourself.

If you are feeling unsure about your metal health as a young person, take a look at the Childline website. Since 1986, Childline have tailored their mental health strategy towards young people, developing ideas that children can engage with. If you are finding it difficult to open to your friends and family, seeking help via Childline could be a good first step in addressing any problems that you may be dealing with.

If you are a young person that doesn’t experience a mental health condition, but have felt inspired by the movement, why not become an activist for YoungMinds' campaign to address children’s mental health. We need people that can help create a world free of any stigma against mental health, where people can easily find the support they need before their situation reaches a critical point.

Activists are needed from a range of backgrounds, cultures, ethnicities, sexualities and religions to help spread this movement throughout our society. You will learn loads of valuable skills and help create really important campaigns that could help a lot of you people. Visit the YoungMinds website to find out more information.

9. Get in touch

Whilst we aren’t experts in mental health, we are always open for a chat with anyone. Feel free to drop us a message on social media or via email if you want to talk. Our goal is for DROPOUT to be an inclusive community of people that can share ideas and experiences with one another. We have already had the opportunity to work with so many inspiring groups and individuals, and long may that continue. Our hope is that in the near future we can run some events that brings these people together and they can share their talents and interests.

  • Featuring: #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek

Bibliography

Mind (www.mind.org.uk/)
Calm (www.thecalmzone.net/)
Support After Suicide (supportaftersuicide.org.uk/)
Wellbeing at Work(www.samaritans.org)
Childline (www.childline.org.uk/)
YoungMinds (youngminds.org.uk/)

Social

Tom Mcgrath (@tommcgrathh)
Ollie Nicholas (@ollienicholas)

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