Saturday 4 February 2017

Time to Talk

Hi guys,

Thank you again for visiting my blog.

Last Thursday (2nd February) was Time to Talk day. Time To Talk day is a day that encourages the whole nation to talk about mental health and to help break the silence. I've always found Time To Talk to be a great initiative because it can encourage those who have mental health problems to talk about more openly with others and for those without mental health problems it is an opportunity to learn from those who do.

To my pleasant surprise my work even had a special Time To Talk workshop where we discussed some facts and figures relating to mental health by the use of quizzes. Some of the facts even surprised me and even I got quite a few questions wrong but I was so impressed that my employers were taken a serious stance with mental health because from a workplace perspective it is important that staff feel valued, appreciated and supported. They even pointed us in the direction of who could support us within the organisation if a person needed support. We also used paper made chatterboxes and behind the number the person chose was written something they had to do that day. I had "to say how I feel" and i'm pleased to say that I was very honest with people how I was feeling on that day.

I know a few people had to ask someone how they are? I'm not saying you need to have a full conversation about their mental health with them. Even giving them a kind comment can help.  I strongly feel that this can really help someone because it makes us feel like someone actually cares about us and cares about how we really feel and that can make a person feel a lot more supported and less alone. I know I love it when friends randomly ring me or tweet me asking how I am because it makes me think they care and therefore I feel valued and self-esteem is a massive thing for a person who has a mental health issue because sometimes we feel like we are not worthy enough but the fact is we are.

Towards the end of the day I took part in #TalkMH which the amazing Hannah hosted this week. I only managed to join the last 10 mins or so but looking through the conversation something felt different and it was the fact the I felt there was more people who took part in #TalkMH then normal. I don't know if other people thought that but I did and even it was down to Time To Talk day then something positive came out of it. I've got to say Hannah did an amazing job and the questions that she asked were so relevant because they not only enabled us to share our experiences, I think they gave positive ideas to other people to try and help them in their day to day life. I love #TalkMH.

One final thing before I go, I just want to give a special mention to Lauren because her last blog post was amazing. I felt like could relate so much to this blog post and I think it encapsulates everything that Time To Talk day should be about because she advises a few tips on how to talk about a mental health issue and how to listen. To me Time To Talk is about both talking and listening and that is part of the reason I love this blog post in particular.

Thanks for reading guys and I hope you have gained something valuable from this post. The link to Lauren's blog post is below and if you guys read it I hope you learn something valuable from her too.

Laurens blog post link http://www.laurenevie.co.uk/2017/02/time-to-talk-conversations-change-lives.html

If you wish to have any more info on Time To Talk please also click on this link http://www.time-to-change.org.uk/about-us/about-our-campaign/time-to-talk

Faisal

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