Making People Better
Making People Better
Mental Health Awareness - Moving more for our mental health
We're joined by Joseph Conway, a seasoned mental health trainer, to discuss the mental health during Mental Health Awareness Week. We reflect on the progress made in breaking down stigmas and the newfound openness that allows us to speak candidly about our struggles.
Addressing mental health isn't just about overcoming major crises; it's about noticing the subtler signs that something's amiss. Together with Joseph, we examine the early indicators of mental distress, such as disrupted sleep, shifts in appetite, and unexplained physical discomfort, which could signal a need for timely intervention. We reinforce the crucial link between mental and physical health, sharing insights into how regular physical activity and stress management techniques can significantly boost mental fitness. Mental Health Awareness Week serves as a poignant reminder to evaluate our overall well-being and prioritize self-care.
Wrapping up our conversation, we turn our focus to the unique pressures of modern work environments and parenthood. For those navigating the delicate balance between professional responsibilities and personal life, especially in remote work settings, we share practical strategies to incorporate movement into your day and the necessity of setting boundaries. Join us for an episode that promises not only to illuminate the path to improved mental wellbeing but also to support you in rediscovering the joy in your daily activities.
Enjoy a moment of relaxing calm with the Vita Health Group Wellbeing series of podcasts to make you feel good, keep you healthy, help you make changes to your life. Vita Health Group is an award-winning market leader and has been at the forefront of healthcare for the past 30 years. Vita Health Group making people better.
Speaker 2:Yes, hello and welcome Time for another of the Making People Better podcasts with Visa Health Group. The series, of course, explores the challenges of everyday life, with a focus on mental and physical health and well-being. I'm Glenn Tomsett, your host on these podcasts, which we hope you find useful and very informative. I'm joined on each episode by various experts in their chosen field, and today I'm joined by Joseph Conway to talk about Mental Health Awareness Week. Joseph is no stranger to the Vita Health podcast series. He's been on before Nice. To have you back with us, joseph. How do we find you?
Speaker 3:Thank you for having me back, glenn as well. I'm very well thank you.
Speaker 2:So you survived the first podcast and I believe you had some great feedback from that particular episode yes, it went down very well.
Speaker 3:Uh, talking about mental health, of course, my specialist subject and we also talked a lot about fatherhood as well. So when we last spoke um, I was a new father, and now I'm going back in for a second round with another baby.
Speaker 2:When's the next?
Speaker 3:one a few months time, um october actually yeah, two days before my birthday.
Speaker 2:Ah well, you never know, it might be a nice birthday present. It could be a double whammy, couldn't it? You know a?
Speaker 3:double birthday in the family. It could be. Yeah, it could be.
Speaker 2:Well, great to have you back with us on the Vita Health podcast series and, of course, making people better is what it's all about. For those who don and haven't listened to your previous podcast, just in a nutshell, tell us what you do.
Speaker 3:Yeah, of course. So my role is as a mental health trainer. So what that means is I travel up and down the country working with different organisations, big and small companies and deliver talks such as these ones, but face-to-face with groups of people talking about mental health. So a big one we do is mental health first aid, but we also talk about trauma. We talk about general mental health awareness, psychological safety. So it comes from a very proactive stance, but also being reactive when we talk about mental health first aid element too, about how we can look after ourselves and how we can look after each other that must be really interesting, joe, because you know, as you say, you travel around the country doing talks on mental health and are you finding that people are around the country doing talks on mental health?
Speaker 2:And are you finding that people are generally more open about how their mental health issues are now sort of treating and how being open to you is helping them?
Speaker 3:They do and I do have a lot of positive engagements. But I meet so many different people, as I say, up and down the country, loads of different backgrounds, different careers, different experiences. As I say, up and down the country, loads of different backgrounds, different careers, different experiences. And despite all the good work that is out there and the encouragement to talk openly about mental health, we do still, unfortunately, see a lot of stigma and also misunderstanding as well, and sometimes we can find ourselves in a situation of people looking to medicalize normal human emotions as well. So a lot of my work is that normalization piece of recognizing that. You know, life is challenging, for sure, definitely, and it will be hard at times and we all need to be able to build on our inner resilience to be able to manage those challenges when they come that sounds very complicated.
Speaker 2:Your inner resilience, I mean, is that easily?
Speaker 3:managed well with resilience, glenn, I love talking about it, and I talk about it all day, every day, really, and it's something that we all have, and it can be quite unifying to see that as well. You know, because every single human being on the planet experiences hardship, of course, some more than others, definitely, but we are all here today, aren't we? So that, for me, speaks to that inner resilience that we've all faced trauma, hardship and challenges. Yet, despite everything that we face, we're still here today. So when I talk about resilience, it's not about acquiring something new that we've ever had before. It's about tapping into what's inside us already and how we can use that to face those challenges when they come.
Speaker 2:This is something we've had for donkey's years, I mean. But it's become more to the fore and I think I mentioned this before in a previous episode. It's become more to the fore since COVID people talking about their mental health issues. Why do you think we are now talking and the world, if you like, is now more focused on mental health? Because years ago, when I was a kid, if you had mental health issues, you just kept it to yourself. You didn't really talk about it. You sort of suffered in silence, if you like. But why do you think now it's so important and more people are actually more open about it?
Speaker 3:And I think that's a great terminology to use there about that suffering in silence because, as much as it feels like a new phenomenon talking about mental health, mental health on its own has been there since the dawn of human time, just the same as we've always had physical health, we've always had mental health. You can't separate the two. It physical health, we've always had mental health. You can't separate the two. It's just that now it is more out there, we are more talking about it more, so people can begin to understand it more and see the impact that it has. So it's important that we are having these conversations and where are we going with it, what's happening and what are we going to do about it as well, how are we going to look after our overall health?
Speaker 2:okay, well, you're here to talk about mental health awareness week. It comes comes around once a year in May. Why is it so important? What's the big focus this year, then, joe?
Speaker 3:Well, first of all, mental Health Awareness Week is really crucial because it does draw our attention to the significance of mental well-being in our lives and for we at least anyway. When we talk about mental health awareness, it really is essential that we recognise mental health. It does exist on that broad spectrum, so that can be from flourishing to struggling, but it's not just about addressing any kind of mental illness. It really is about being proactive in our well-being. So we need to move away from seeing self-care as selfish or indulgent but really necessary for our overall health. And talking about themes for this year, the big focus is on movement, and we've mentioned this a bit already, haven't we? About not being able to separate the two, between our physical and our mental health. So this is what this year is mainly focusing on now is that impact that movement can have on our mental health.
Speaker 2:When you say movement, you're talking about physical movement, actually getting up and doing something.
Speaker 3:Yeah, definitely so, getting your body moving and the impact that can have on your mental health and your overall well-being and your overall health too.
Speaker 2:It does make you feel better when you've been for a good walk or ride. I'd cycle a lot Previously. I've mentioned on a previous podcast I, I think, with you. Actually I do quite a lot of cycling, and especially during covid, you know, when, uh, we couldn't sort of mingle with many people, but getting out in the open space was wonderful. It did make you feel better. I did come back with more of a positive sort of mind, you know and it does, and we know that from personal experiences.
Speaker 3:When we do move more, we definitely do feel better, and also it can be the view on it sometimes as well, can't it? So that's what I really want to change and challenge and that's what I talk about a lot in my sessions and my talks, because that example there glenn of you being out on your bike when people see someone out cycling or going to the gym or running, typically you think, oh, good for them. Yeah, that's what I thought straight away when you said that as well.
Speaker 1:Oh good on glenn, you know he's taking care of his body.
Speaker 3:He's moving a bit more good. But then the other hand of that, when we talk about mental health, if you said, oh, I'm going to see a therapist, then people normally jump to what's wrong with what's wrong with him, or what's going on yeah and that's the problem, isn't it?
Speaker 3:and that's how I see it as a problem, and that's why mental health awareness week is so important. Today, this week, this month, all the time is to be able to move away from those kind of societal norms of seeing a physical health as good and mental health as bad. Both are on that spectrum. So when we think of physical health, you can think of someone who is out cycling like yourself, glenn someone who's eating well, sleeping well, looking after themselves physically, and that's that view that we have, don't we? Of't we of physical health? But actually physical health is on that spectrum.
Speaker 3:I'm sure you've been physically unwell before, you've injured yourself. We know what that's like and how bad that can be for yourself and for others who are struggling with their physical health. But it's just the same as our mental health too. Yet when we think of mental health, we jump straight to someone who has this diagnosis, someone who's extremely unwell and struggling. But actually we have mental health. It's on all the time, it doesn't switch on or switch off, and we can be flourishing with it too, can't we?
Speaker 2:We mentioned earlier about suffering in silence. You know years ago you would suffer in silence, but it's important and more people are talking about mental health now.
Speaker 3:How does talking about it break down that stigma surrounding mental health? Yeah, and talking about it really does help in breaking down that stigma in several ways really. So firstly, it normalizes the conversation, so it shows that mental health is a very common aspect in all of our lives and by talking about it openly it helps to reduce that sense of shame or isolation, even for some people like that suffering in silence, like we were saying. But then it also helps in opening the dialogue there to be able to understand it a bit more, to be able to challenge any misconceptions or myths around mental health conditions and then, if we can understand it a little bit more, it could then hopefully encourage individuals to seek the help that they need and to be able to foster that in a supportive environment, rather than suffering in silence and letting things build up and build up and fester until they get to that breaking point where things just become too unbearable for people.
Speaker 1:So if we have these conversations early on.
Speaker 3:It's going to be so much better to be able to recognize that and to provide that support and joe, it's knowing when to talk about it.
Speaker 2:Isn't it knowing the right time to talk to somebody about how you're you're feeling?
Speaker 3:yeah, yeah, definitely. And I would say when is the right time? It's all the time, just the same. As we talk about our physical health, we should be comfortable enough to be able to talk about our mental health. So I talk about this quite often when I'm out in places of work talking to employees in different organizations, and how open we would be with our physical health when we talk to our colleagues.
Speaker 3:So, oh, sorry, I can't do any heavy lifting this week. I've put my back out or, you know, I'm not coming in for a few days. I've got sickness and diarrhea. We don't question it, we share it and then we can support each other around that as best we can do. But we don't question it, we share it and then we can support each other around that as best we can do. But we don't necessarily talk so openly about our mental health because we can't articulate it as well or there's that fear of being judged or how we'll be treated potentially differently. So we avoid sharing what's happening with us internally. So to be able to talk about it, that needs to be that first step, and it all starts with really recognizing any of those early warning signs and what would a typical early warning sign be, or does that vary from person to person?
Speaker 3:yeah, good question. So it can definitely vary from person to person. So it's really important that we know ourselves. Just like we need to know our own body, we need to know our own minds too. So some things to look out for could be maybe feeling of distress, sadness or anxiety over extended period of time.
Speaker 3:Or perhaps maybe, glenn, if you begin to recognize your mental health is affecting your daily life, maybe your work or your relationships, or a good spot, a telltale sign for yourself, but also it may be spotting this in other people could be any noticeable changes in behavior. So maybe difficulty sleeping, maybe a change in appetite, or perhaps withdrawing from social activities. But another one that people miss or get confused by sometimes are those physical symptoms too, and we don't relate the two. So maybe increased headaches or feeling fatigued or any unexplained aches or pains. I would say, glenn, you know you have to trust your gut here. So if you recognise that something's not right, we need to be seeking help, and seeking help isn't a sign of weakness, it's a sign of strength. So don't hesitate to reach out to a mental health professional or someone you trust for any guidance or support.
Speaker 2:And, equally, you know if you do recognise those early symptoms, those early problems, if you do recognize those early symptoms, those early problems, if you like those issues, talk to a family member about it. You know, even perhaps before you get to see a specialist, it's good to actually explain how you feel. You know your partner, your yeah your mother, your father, your brother's, sister, whatever you know, whoever it is, it's good to to actually tell them how you're feeling definitely because it's so easy, isn't it?
Speaker 3:just to bury head in the sands or tell ourselves to keep calm and carry on. This is all fine, and we end up very often myself included. I've definitely done this to ignore those early warning signs, and usually they manifest in stress. First of all, now, when we talk about stress. Stress is an inherent part of human experience and it's a response that's deeply ingrained in our biology. Yet we choose to ignore it. We ignore those early warning signs and pretend nothing's happening, and sometimes it can be those demands of daily life that lead us to downplay the importance of acknowledging and actually managing that stress. And it's so easy then to fall into that trap of thinking that we can just power through and we end up ignoring that toll it's taken on our overall health and our well-being so mental health awareness week, then, is something to focus the mind, if you like, and the body on your way of thinking and your your mental overall health and well-being definitely, yeah, really, that opportunity to be able to take a step back and think oh, oh, you know what's going on here.
Speaker 3:So definitely we should be taking the proactive steps to be able to look after our health, and typically we would do that by focusing on our physical health, like you getting out on your bike, we'd eat well, we'd try and sleep well, wouldn't we? So we need to be taking that same approach here with our mental health, finding things that we enjoy doing, and to be able to focus on those, recognizing the benefit that it has on our overall health and being able to move away from that idea of self-care being selfish or indulgent, but almost necessary for our overall health and our well-being you mentioned earlier about the whole aspect of movement and how it helps you with your mental health problems.
Speaker 2:Perhaps we can delve a bit deeper into this, Joe, because I'm fascinated by it. How does getting up and moving around actually make you feel better mentally?
Speaker 3:Yeah well, you've said yourself from previous experience and individual experience that benefit, that you feel that buzz after getting outside and getting your body moving, and we know how beneficial that is because we talk about it from our own personal experiences.
Speaker 3:But when we engage in regular physical activity, our bodies then release these neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine, and they're those feel-good chemicals. So what these neurotransmitters do? They play a crucial role in being able to help us regulate our moods and emotions, and then this boosting serotonin and dopamine levels that come from exercise contribute overall to a sense of happiness, relaxation and just general overall good well-being, and then you know what this is like. I'm sure the more physical activity that we do, it can then help us with our sleep quality as well, and that regular exercise helps us to regulate our sleep-wake cycle, so it makes it easier to fall asleep and stay asleep throughout the night, and then that quality of sleep is essential for our mental health and our overall health too. I don't know about you, but I know for me, if I don't have a good night's sleep, it affects how I think, how I feel, how I even behave the next day.
Speaker 2:It certainly does great. If you're a, you've got a physical job. You know you're working outside on a building site, you're a farmer or whatever you do. You know that physical work makes you feel better. I guess it makes you sleep better. But what about if you're an office worker? Any tips for people sat at the desk all day long? You know, the only exercise they probably get is going out for lunch, getting a sandwich from the local sandwich shop or popping down to the kitchen or to the coffee machine to make a drink. So yeah, any tips on what people stuck at desks can do all day long.
Speaker 3:Yeah, really good question, glenn. And these are conversations I have very often when I'm out in people's places of work and people who are stuck at a desk, but especially now so with the rising working from home, so people now can find themselves staying in all day, from rolling out of bed straight onto their laptop, hopefully in a space away from their bed, but staying in that same space all day long. And I've done it myself before. I've had physical jobs before I finished the day, physically exhausted, so the last thing I want to do is get up and move. But I've spent that energy. But I've had it as well when I've been working at a desk all day and I finish and I'm exhausted, so I don't have the energy, or I don't perceive to have the energy, to get up and go to the gym or go for a run. But it's recognizing that difference, isn't it of being mentally exhausted because I've had a challenging day at work, but I've got all this physical energy that I need to spend still. So it's about getting in that right mindset, recognizing that we do need to still spend that energy and the benefits for us. So I would say to anyone who has a office job, who is regularly sitting down for their work is to start small first of all, and we want to be able to incorporate movement into our daily lives, and that doesn't require an expensive gym membership or signing up for a marathon, but just simple activities walking, taking the stairs rather than the lift, or just getting outside for a moment if you're working from home is so important. What I do there, glenn, and I practice this myself as well if I'm working from home all day.
Speaker 3:But I also encourage people I speak to about giving yourself a virtual commute. So if you're working online, you're working remotely, you're working from home. Come rain or shine, it doesn't matter. Before you start your working day, give yourself that virtual commute. So get up, get out of bed, get dressed and take a step outside. So sure, go for a 5k run, if that's within you or if not.
Speaker 3:Just go for that virtual commute in the sense of you step outside of your house, out into the big wide world and you go for a walk that might be around the block or to the end of the road, to have that separation from work and home, to then go back in to then start your day and move throughout the day as well. So I would say, just before we started, I've got a stand up desk, so I have a desk riser that goes up and down. So say, just before we started, I've got a stand-up desk, so I have a desk riser that goes up and down, so I'm always moving around. Scheduling the breaks to get around from the screen is so important as well to not be glued there the whole time. And if you are working remotely and working from home that day, give yourself that close. At the end of the day, physically closing your laptop and again doing that same virtual commute, step outside, walk around the block and come back home you mentioned there a very important word screens.
Speaker 2:I mean, we're spending more time now in front of screens than ever before. You know youngsters yeah, you know middle-aged, what age you are people are on social media. They can't get away from this addiction. That is a screen that can't be doing our mental health a lot of good, can it?
Speaker 3:I would say it wouldn't, and from a personal preference, I don't have social media, apart from linkedin for the professional element of it, but apart from that I've deleted it all because it's so easy just to doom scroll, in that sense of just staring at a screen, constantly refreshing the page, not really moving at all. Then are you? You're just there, you're just stuck to it and it can be really damaging for our overall health. So and the negativity, as well.
Speaker 2:You know a lot of negativity on social media and that again that brings you down doesn't it?
Speaker 3:yeah, and that comparison to other people as well, and that's why it's so important to be able to give yourself that break, or a digital detox, you know, to be able to give yourself that break away from the screen. And I think really important as well, if you are working at a screen all day, to make sure that you are having that break away from the screen. So, on your breaks, they are breaks not just a break from work or from the emails, but an actual break from the screen as well. Or I'm in the habit of, if I'm on a call that doesn't need to be on a video call, I'm off camera and I'm closing everything down and I'm on the phone looking out the window. A bit of a separation away from that screen really helps me in being able to have that kind of separation from it great idea, the digital detox and I know that there's a big drive now.
Speaker 2:Isn't there for many schools to bring back? You know just the ordinary basic telephone or mobile phone where you can literally just make a call and use a text. You know doing away with a smartphone. You bring an ordinary little old, um, little old. You know the old nokias. We used to get the nokia phones before the smartphones came out, bringing those back again you know, just where you can make the important call the smartphone technology.
Speaker 2:As as great as it is, I just think it's doing us more damage than good, to be honest with you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and how necessary is it to have all of that information at your fingertips all the time?
Speaker 2:It's not. Is it really it's a computer? Isn't it really yeah?
Speaker 3:absolutely right, yeah. And it's always the fun out of quizzes, doesn't it? And anything else, because someone has an answer straight away. So no more tool towels anymore, because someone can catch you out.
Speaker 2:Let's go and Google the answer. Let's Google the answer. What about spreading the word about mental health in people's own circles? How can that be done, Joe?
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, I think really we all have a collective responsibility for this, and I would say, first of all is to lead by example. So prioritise our own mental health and our wellbeing, so setting aside time for our self-care and talking about the importance of mental health. So, mental Health Awareness Week, we should be talking about it all the time, and not just when someone's struggling, but all the time when someone's flourishing too, so we can see how important these open conversations can be and potentially encouraging other people to be able to speak up if they did have any concerns or knowing who to turn to or what good looks like. So we should all be able to take proactive steps in care for our mental health and also, hopefully, help others care for theirs too.
Speaker 2:All right. So some fascinating information there about Mental Health Awareness Week and mental health in general. Joseph, what about yourself, then? I mean, this is an area you focus in on. This is what you do as a living help people with mental health problems and issues. What's next on the agenda?
Speaker 3:for you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so talking about working from home, I'm going to be working from home doing a mental health first aid course, so I deliver accredited mental health first aid training to corporate customers, and we also open this up to other smaller organizations too as well.
Speaker 3:So anyone and everyone is welcome to that. But when I do mental health first aid, I come from a place of mental health advocacy, so it's still mental health first aid, but I really encourage the attendees of my training to become advocates on mental health, so being reactive to the needs of someone who may be struggling, but also being proactive in our approach of talking about positive mental health. So there's that element to it, and the following week I've got sessions booked out for mental health awareness. So, like what we're talking about today, mental health awareness week it's one of my most popular sessions. I do a three-hour talk on mental health awareness, specifically designed for managers, and we also open it up to employees too. So the importance of mental health awareness again, how we'd be proactive and also having conversations around it, not shying away from someone who may be struggling, but let's tackle this head on. So really worthwhile.
Speaker 2:So you're going to be a busy bunny then, for the next month at least, aren't you? Oh?
Speaker 3:very busy Up to the parental leave Indeed. Then I'll be a different kind of busy.
Speaker 2:I'm sure it will be. Yeah, so indeed, and if there's gonna be a different kind of busy, I'm sure it will be yeah. If there's one takeaway we can grab from you today, joseph, regarding mental health especially, this is your focus of speciality yeah, definitely, I'd say.
Speaker 3:A takeaway is, you know, don't see it as a bad word mental health. We all have it, every single human being on the planet. We all have mental health, just the same as we have physical health just in different levels, I guess, just different levels of mental health just the same as different levels of our physical health.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, it's exactly the same, really, and it's going to be unique to us. Don't feel that we need to be an expert or a therapist to have a conversation about it, you don't. You just need to be a human being to another human being. So ask someone how are they doing? We don't need to have all the answers. Very rarely would that one response make everything better. But what makes something better is connection. I don't know if you ever heard this metaphor, glenn of a candle loses nothing by lighting another candle I love that because when you think about it, what does that look like?
Speaker 3:I have a candle in this dark room. I light someone else's candle. My candle loses nothing. All I do is make that room a bit brighter so we can take that away with us, can't we? It's a great phrase Go around with our candle and making that room, making that world a bit of a brighter place For you, for I, for everyone. That's a great phrase.
Speaker 2:I like that. Details coming up, copyright, copyright. You slapped all over Details coming up in just a moment of the web address for Vita Health Group and how maybe Vita can help you with mental health awareness. But in the meantime, joseph, lovely to talk to you. If I don't speak to you again before your next little one is born, I hope it all goes well. Thank you, and it could be on your birthday. That birth could be on your birthday, couldn't it?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it could be A happy birthday present, so maybe we'll do fatherhood round two, for our next one won.
Speaker 2:Joseph conway is a psychotherapist with vita health group. Joseph, it's been great talking to you. Take care, you too. Glenn.
Speaker 1:All the best thank you, thank you for listening to this making people better podcast, part of the well-being series from vita health group. Improving your lives, physically and mentally, drives everything we do, and getting you back to doing what you love is our priority. Vita Health Group making people better.