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On suicide…

Trigger warning! This poem may be difficult to read if you know someone who has committed suicide, if you yourself have had suicidal thoughts, or if the topic of suicide is difficult for you whatever the reason may be. Please do not read if you don’t feel ready to do so.

If you want to read make sure you feel in a good place with your mental health, perhaps read it with a friend or do whatever you need so as to not feel triggered. Please also check local resources (and on this website) to support you with your mental health.

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Helping prevent suicide in men

Ben Akers

This blog post is part of a series on men’s mental health for Movember. In this series, different men give their perspective on male mental health. What does it mean to deal with mental health as a man?

In certain cases as with the interview below, people have had the courage to reveal their identity. This is both brave and vulnerable, congratulations to them!

What made you want to share your story? Please introduce yourself

Hi my name is Ben Akers, I’m 44, father of 3. I live in Bristol in the UK. I’m a Documentary Maker, Problem Solver and Mental Fitness Campaigner.

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Managing my mental health amid a global pandemic

This blog post is part of a series on men’s mental health for Movember. In this series, different men give their perspective on male mental health. What does it mean to deal with mental health as a man?

In certain cases as with the interview below, people have had the courage to partly reveal their identity. This is both brave and vulnerable, congratulations to them!

What made you want to share your story? Please introduce yourself

Mental health pandemic
Photo by Matheus Ferrero on Unsplash

I’m Nick, I’m 40 years old and I am a salesperson. I was furloughed in April and made redundant in September. I wanted to share my story with a focus on the last 7 months of lockdown and the pandemic,the effect this has had on my mental health and that of people I care about. 

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Addressing my mental health after 30 years

This blog post is part of a series on men’s mental health for Movember. In this series, different men give their perspective on male mental health. What does it mean to deal with mental health as a man?

In certain cases as with the interview below, people have had the courage to reveal their identity. This is both brave and vulnerable, congratulations to them!

What made you want to share your story? Please introduce yourself

Chris Hart
Chris

Hi, I’m Chris Hart, I’m 39 and live in the UK. I’m a dad to three boys and have worked in recruitment for the last 14 years.

I wanted to share my story because, slowly over the last couple of years I have become more comfortable in talking about my own experiences with Mental Health. It has taken nearly 39 years to get to this point, and now I want to do what I can to help others in talking about it and reducing the stigma.

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What a solo cycling journey taught me about mental health

This blog post is part of a series on men’s mental health for Movember. In this series, different men give their perspective on male mental health. What does it mean to deal with mental health as a man?

In certain cases as with the interview below, people have had the courage to reveal their identity. This is both brave and vulnerable, congratulations to them!

What made you want to share your story? Please introduce yourself

Dirk Spits
Dirk

My name is Dirk Spits, 39 years old. Between September 2013 and May 2015 I solo-cycled from the northern tip of Alaska to the southern point of South America, an expedition of over 30.000 km that took 20 months. I did this for my foundation called 99%RIDE, raising funds and awareness for small NGOs concerning children’s and educational projects.

During the expedition I experienced the most difficult (mental, physical and emotional) situations I have ever come across. The mental component has always fascinated me, and now I am always pleased to be able to share my story and experience with others.

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Finance and mental health: how to weather the anxiety of COVID19?

Guest blog post by Ana Herrero-Wallace

Financial anxiety induced by COVID19

Financial anxiety

Since March we’ve all been thrown into chaos due to COVID19, and the implications of that on our mental health are still being discovered. One of the aspects that’s cause for concern is personal finance, and yet there doesn’t seem to be a lot out there to help us get through it. 

It’s absolutely normal to have financial concerns in such uncertain times, whether you lost your job, are not sure how secure your current role is, or are worried about your investments and how to make it through the storm. Or perhaps due to media coverage, you’re worried about whether or not you should buy/sell, if you’re going to lose money, if you should invest at all or what to do if you already have. These are legitimate reactions to have right now, and we’re all experiencing the uncertainty.  

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how my mental health affected my financial situation

finances mental health
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

Over the summer I listened to a few financial podcasts and was inspired by one particular episode in which the guest was talking about her childhood and how it had deeply affected her relationship with money. This got me thinking about the connection between finance and mental health and how they influence each other, and I decided it was an important topic to cover.

If you think about it, personal finance and mental health are both topics that aren’t really talked about that much. If you want to learn how to manage your finances properly you have to seek out information, but conversations about money can still be considered taboo in certain societies, and no one is ever taught financial literacy. Yet our financial wellbeing has such an impact on our general wellbeing, it strikes me as strange we don’t address it more often.

For this blog post since I don’t have much experience myself, I put out a call for contributions and was fortunate enough to have a few people respond. The following is an interview/guest blog post by Celine who was willing to share her story. I hope you enjoy, and thank you to her for contributing!

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Secrecy around mental health at work

Secrecy around mental health at work
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

Previously I talked about the idea that mental health is bad for your career, in fact busting the myth wide open. But along with this commonplace myth come a load of other issues. Enter: secrecy around mental health at work.

While the topic is gaining momentum, we’re still not in a place where people openly volunteer information about their mental health in the workplace. Thanks to COVID19 I’ve seen the media and employers paying far more attention to mental health, which means companies are looking for ways to address the issue and bring mental wellbeing to the forefront of their agenda. I couldn’t be more excited!

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Taking care of your mental health during a crisis

Photo by Fausto García on Unsplash

As I sit here writing on a Saturday morning of March 2020, it feels like we’re really living in a strange world, or strange times. And I say this, as I am trying to ignore what’s happening “in the rest of the world”. I just spent 20 minutes dancing to disco music in my kitchen and that definitely lifted my spirits.

Still, I felt the need to write a short blog post because our mental health is going to be (if not already) impacted by the events, and we have to take care of ourselves and each other.

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Living with anxiety – Part 1

Mental health is trendy

Living with anxiety
Anxiety monster by Zesty Does Things

I’ve been meaning to write about this for a while, as it’s a subject that touches me personally. For the past 2-3 years I’ve seen an increasing number of articles on the topic, and whilst it’s been reassuring to see it become more commonly talked about, it’s also been a bit irritating as most articles only scratch the surface. And they focus predominantly on social anxiety. 

I’m still glad that mental health is being discussed a lot more openly than it used to. It’s encouraging to see people coming forward with their stories, making it more acceptable to admit that you may be suffering, and asking for help. In light of this recent “trend”, I decided that I too wanted to share my story about living with anxiety.

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