Today is time to talk day, and this year the focus is on The Power of Small. A small conversation about mental health has the power to make a big difference.
We know that the more conversations we have, the more myths we can bust and barriers we can break down, helping to end the isolation, shame and worthlessness that too many of us with mental health problems are made to feel.
This year, I want to highlight the importance of relationships in managing mental health, particularly with the national lockdown we are all experiencing.
When you look at the research about what helps people to manage and regulate their emotions, the thing that comes top of the list is relationships. A warm, accepting relationship is the most important factor in assisting someone who is feeling all over the place and out of balance to bring themselves back into themselves.
This makes sense really, we begin life in an intimate relationship with our birth mother, reliant on her body for life. We emerge, and are utterly dependent on our carers for our lives, not just physically but also emotionally. We know that without meaningful relationship in these very early days there are parts of the brain that simply don’t develop.
So, we emerge as our unique selves through our relationships. It’s no wonder that relationships remain a place of balance and restoration throughout life.
This Time to Talk Day, who can you reach out to to make your caring transparent? Who have you not connected with in a while, or as deeply as usual, in these odd times? And what do you need, who can you turn to for support?
Why not take some time today to feed the relationships that matter in your life, and to begin to create some new ones? After all, one of the best things for mental health is helping other people.
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