There are more and more ways that you can access support with mental health. Sometimes the problem can be either not knowing what is out there or the potential embarrassment of reaching out. According to the Mental Health Foundation, 1 in 6 people experience a common mental health problem on a weekly basis so there doesn’t need to be any shame around reaching out. There would be too many to talk about in one post so I would recommend doing more research on what would be available for you personally but I will tell you a bit about where I have received support in the past couple of years.

The first time I reached out for professional support was to the university counselling service. This was made up of 8 sessions of mainly talking therapy which for me was a good starter to help me express my feelings and make me more aware of my issues going forward. From this, I have gone on to see a private counsellor who helped to go deeper with these issues and start to look at practical ways that I can tackle them.

Another one was from my GP. I have always scheduled routine appointments but you can phone for emergency mental health appointments. Through my GP appointments, I have been able to narrow down my issues to mainly anxiety through questionnaires. I have also been given medication to treat the physical and psychological symptoms of anxiety. Also, through the GP, I have found out about community mental health teams. For the area that I am in, there are sessions on sleep, emotional wellbeing and counselling. I’m coming to the end of a block of 8 counselling sessions with them, where with a mixture written and audio resources, I have been able to focus on compassion for myself which is one of my biggest struggles.

There are organisations like Samaritans who you can phone or email for general advice and support at any time. There are also good breathing and meditation practices on SoundCloud under Soothing Rhythm Breathing and the Lifelink website.
https://www.lifelink.org.uk/helpful-materials/for-adults/.

However, even though it can be hard sometimes, don’t forget that there is no shame in reaching out to those who are close to you when you need to.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope you find it helpful. As always, feel free to get in touch with any questions/feedback/comments, I always love to hear it. Stay tuned for the next instalment.

Until next time
K