Author’s backing for World Mental Health Day
A Scarborough author is backing World Mental Health Day, which happens every year on October 10.
World Mental Health Day aims to create an opportunity to talk about mental health, as well as raise awareness of people suffering from mental health problems.
This year’s theme set by the World Federation for Mental Health is ‘Access to Services’ – mental health in catastrophes and emergencies.
The theme highlights the importance of people being able to protect their mental health whatever they’re going through, because everyone deserves good mental health.
Jamie Kershaw co-authored Hurricane to a Rainbow, a ground-breaking mental health research project, with Sarah May Tulip – a book that took “four years of hard work” to write.
It offers an insight into the mind of people with mental health experiences, covering anxiety, PTSD, BPD, autistic spectrum and schizophrenia in detail, educating others on the inside mind of those with these lived experiences.
Jamie said people have had to face various crises over the past few years, such as the Covid pandemic, war in Ukraine, natural disasters such as wildfires, political changes and the Cost of Living Crisis.
“World Mental Health Day is a great opportunity for us to come together to talk about mental health and show everyone that is matter,” he said.
Jamie wanted to share the following information from the Mental Health Foundation, which sets out some helpful tips as well as what to expect.
1. Choose someone you trust to talk to
This might be a friend, family member or a colleague.
Or you might be more comfortable talking to someone you don’t know, for example, through a support helpline.
2. Think about the best place to talk
It’s important to choose a place where you feel comfortable enough to open-up.
You might want to choose somewhere private where you’re less likely to be disturbed.
3. Prepare yourself for their reaction
Hopefully, you will have a good experience when you open-up to someone.
But there’s a chance that they may not react in the way you hope.
This may be for different reasons, like they may be worried or not fully understand at first.
If that’s the case, try to give them time to process what you’ve told them.