Mental health is about the emotional, psychological, and social well-being of an individual, and how each person can handle the stresses that their life may have. At Ascent Rehabilitation, Business Manager, Bronwen Stead, gave a profound exploration into her perspective on mental health, and shared her understanding and professional experience about mental health that not many people would know about.
What is your definition of mental health?
I actually find it challenging to define mental health, as I see it as such an integral part of who we each are. For me, mental health is who we are and how we are. I think generally in the broader community, mental health is often referred to as when something is wrong with our mental health. In comparison with our physical health, people often talk positively about how they want to improve their physical health or do better with their body through exercise and drinking more water, but people often talk about mental health when they’re not feeling well. Mental health is something that is a part of us all the time. I think our mental health is like the brain of the body that drives everything we do. With mental health, I want there to be a shift where our mental health where it is as easy to speak about, and is seen as just as important as physical health, however, it’s my impression that that’s not currently the case. There’s still a stigma attached to how people see mental health, unfortunately. Just like physical health, our mental health is a continuum and we can be anywhere from well to unwell, and just like we care for our physical health, so too should we care for our mental health.
When do you think someone may need help with their mental health?
Like how most people have a doctor for their physical health issues, I would love if everyone were comfortable enough to have conversations with their doctor about mental health issues, or have connected with a mental health provider before they may have a problem.
I like to compare mental health to preparing a zombie bag (just hear me out here). Say your mid-zombie apocalypse. You wouldn’t be packing your bag with all your safety equipment, food, and camping resources while the zombie is chomping on your leg. You would want to prepare it ahead of time so you are ready to respond when the apocalypse makes its way to town. It’s the same with our mental health. I think that everyone can prepare and learn better skills to manage their stress, promote their resilience, or function better with their mental health before it becomes a concern. I would love to see society come to the point where we are proactive with our mental health. If society had better access to mental health professionals and mental health resources, then people would have better mental health literacy and seek mental health support in a proactive and preventative way. I think society is starting to shift in the right direction, but I would love it if everyone had a mental health provider or someone they can speak to about their mental health, so in the instance where something did arise for them, or they were facing challenges or noticed a change in their mood, they already had someone they felt comfortable with to go have that conversation. There’s evidence showing that when someone is having issues with their mental health, the earlier they can connect with a treatment provider, it’s giving themselves the best chance for a complete recovery.
What do you believe are the benefits of seeking professional mental help?
I think that everyone can learn more skills, and we can all have better mental health. With mental health, by seeing a third party, or mental health professional, you can learn new things about your mental health, or yourself that you don’t know. Like with my idea earlier of engaging with a professional for a mental health check-up, everyone may have a different goal that they’re working on, such as being more productive at work, increasing concentration, or having better sleep. A mental health professional can give you tips and tools around how you might achieve those goals. With stress management, and indeed all mental health, what works for one person may not work for all. Even with all of the information online on finding strategies, how I might learn to cope using those strategies may be different to how someone else may cope and learn. By engaging with a mental health professional, they’re equipped to help people with all kinds of learning styles to be able to achieve their goals, do better, or have better strategies. Although there is a lot of great information online, I think that by engaging with a mental health professional, you can get a tailored strategy plan to your situation for what you’re looking for, and that will take into account your current circumstances.
How do mental health issues differ to someone affected by physical health issues?
Often, mental health issues are unseen or not noticed by other people, and those having a mental health challenge can feel very isolated, and that they’re alone in their journey and recovery. Generally, with a physical injury, there’s sometimes an external injury which is evident to others. When you think about someone with a broken leg, they usually have a cast and crutches, and this will often be a trigger or an alert for people in the general community. When you see someone with crutches walking by, you tend to Often, mental health issues are unseen or not noticed by other people, and those having a mental health challenge can feel very isolated, and that they’re alone in their journey and recovery. Generally, with a physical injury, there’s sometimes an external injury that is evident to others. When you think about someone with a broken leg, they usually have a cast and crutches, and this will often be a trigger or an alert for people in the general community. When you see someone with crutches walking by, you tend to move out of the way or open the door, and you may inadvertently go out of your way to be a bit more helpful to this stranger.
With mental health, we often don’t have that external indicator to show that these people may need a little bit of extra help and care, and I think that can be a challenge. Some people experiencing mental health challenges can work hard to try and hide any signs that they are experiencing some form of mental health, as they may be concerned about the consequences or potential stigma. With the work I’ve done at Ascent, I think one of the most interesting things I’ve encountered is people experiencing their mental health challenges for the first time, while they also have their own stigma about mental health. Not only are they experiencing something they’ve never had before, such as anxiety or depression, but they’re having to learn about this whole new thing they’ve never known about, and sometimes previously not believed in. They have now been exposed to it, and are grappling with their past ideologies on how people with mental health are “putting it on”, “being lazy”, or it’s not real. Now they are starting to experience it themselves, and realise it’s a real thing, and they need help. While some people might think that having not experienced any mental health issues is a positive thing, I actually view it as a risk, because those that have experienced issues previously are likely to already have some knowledge about themselves, and how they can improve their mental health, and what strategies work for them.
How do you think the workplace should change to better accommodate people who have mental health issues?
Employers have come a long way over the last couple of decades by recognising that they have to have an appreciation for people’s mental health in the workplace. For our parents’ generation, the workplace only saw the importance of looking at physical health, but now there’s an emerging recognition that when people come to work, it’s their physical and their mental health that they are bringing with them.
Many workplaces have an OH&S guide around physical aspects such as cables or trip hazards, but I don’t think we have come to a point yet where we have the same focus on what the risks are for mental health in our workplaces. This mental health guide would include what are the potential ways our staff may be exposed to mental health risks, such as burnout, stress, or perhaps exposure to violence or trauma. If we think of working as a front-line health professional, as an example, there’s a lot of stress placed on them that could have a mental health impact. I think that the workplace needs to keep working on not being scared to have conversations about mental health with their workers.
A common fear I encounter is that people may worry that by asking other people about their mental health, they will make it worse, or they’re going to be faced with a conversation they don’t know how to deal with. They may think that they need to have all the answers, but to have this conversation and to show support for others, we actually don’t need to have any answers. By simply saying to somebody “are you okay”, and asking how they are when we notice they’re feeling down, or not functioning lately, by having that conversation they know they are being seen and recognised. It will show that someone cares enough to have that uncomfortable conversation, which can put them on a whole different pathway towards their recovery.
What is your advice for someone who may have a mental health issue, and not know where to start for recovery?
My first piece of advice is that it’s okay and that even though having mental health challenges can be scary, uncomfortable, or isolating, it’s a perfectly human experience to have. If you feel as though you can’t manage your mental health right now, there’s a whole sweep of people who can support you. I would encourage you to think about the trusted people within your network and not just mental health professionals, because there can be a delay to access a mental health professional at the moment. While I’m a big advocate for mental health professionals, there’s a lot of support we can each give to one another through having the ability to have a conversation with a loved one about their mental health. Although everyone has their own wealth of knowledge, or experiences on how to have better mental health management, sharing when we’re not doing well can be incredibly relieving, regardless of how the other person may respond. I think finding that trusted person, and having someone you can share with when you’re not feeling great is often that first step to feeling better.
While mental health is how our brain and emotional response function throughout the day, our mental health is essentially our overall well-being in learning how to cope with the stresses of life. This is an important aspect that people often don’t understand; mental health and well-being is not an absence of issues or challenges, mental health is having the skills, tools and resources to adequately manage them.
Mental health is a complex scale that varies for each person on how we learn, grow, and who we are as people. At Ascent Rehabilitation, we are proud to be a business that helps people with their mental health, and we’re always doing our best as a team to continue learning, growing, and finding better ways to support those affected by their mental health, as well as our own.
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