Mental Health Awareness Week, now in its 22nd year, is an important annual initiative spearheaded by the brilliant Mental Health Foundation. This year the theme is anxiety.
We all have a brain, and we all have mental health. Most of us will have experienced anxiety at some point in our lives. It is a natural, instinctive, and important experience. It sends a message to us that there is something to be aware of which we need
to consider and possibly respond to.
Anxiety is not in itself a mental health problem, but it can be if for example it causes you to stop or avoid doing things you want to do or use self-harming behaviours to manage the feelings. It can be a problem if the fears or worries are about imagined
situations, are disproportionate or cause difficult physiological responses such as panic attacks.
There are two types of anxiety disorders, generalised and specific, both of which have distinct diagnostic criteria used for their diagnosis.
Globally, we are at a significant moment in advancing our understanding about mental health. These days, we are much more open in talking about mental health. Through education and training initiatives in the workplace and community, we are promoting
understanding and awareness while tackling mental health stigma.
Mental Health First Aiders are part of this crucial development. Through their training and ongoing support, they are contributing to better mental health in the workplace and their communities.
While people are becoming more open about discussing mental health, there is still a long way to go in terms of understanding the nuances of mental health and the language used to describe it. We have yet to develop a shared understanding, precise and
nuanced language combined with the universal confidence and skills to talk about it, and where necessary distinguish between every day human experiences - be it feelings of anxiety, stress or overwhelm that are proportionate to a given situation, compared
to those situations where anxiety is a problem which may require professional help and intervention to prevent or manage.
When Mum was dying, I was anxious. I had the privilege of living with her for the last four months of her life. I spent a lot of that time feeling anxious, worrying about what she was eating, had she taken her pills, was she comfortable and towards the
end of her life, was she still breathing.
In these circumstances, these feelings were a reasonable and understandable response.
Fast forward a few years later, and I often feel anxious. It may be before an important or difficult conversation or presentation. It might be when I am competing on my horse and the jumps look frighteningly big, or when my 79 and a half-year-old Dad
tells me he knelt down and couldn’t get up, or he got stuck up a ladder (that he is banned from climbing!). Again, reasonable, and understandable responses to the circumstances.
We can’t control the feelings we have, but with insight, awareness and understanding, we can often control how we respond to them. What I have learned during my time at MHFA England, through doing the training and learning more about mental health, is
that my feelings of anxiety are generally reasonable and proportionate to the circumstances. I can also use tools such as the My Whole Self MOT to help explore and manage my feelings.
Click here to access our My Whole Self resources
So, anxiety like so much in life sits on a spectrum. It can be just an everyday, usual feeling which is providing an important signal to us, and as we move along the spectrum it may cause problems, or in certain circumstances meet specific criteria which
means it is a diagnosable condition.
Understanding what feelings of anxiety may be signalling to us and using that data to drive our actions and behaviours is an important skill we can all learn.
In a world that seems to be increasingly speeding up, where we are increasingly connected digitally, consciously disconnecting, practising mindfulness, gratitude and breathwork and taking time for self-care and doing the things we love are steps we can
all take.
Equally important is understanding that anxiety is one of the most common mental health problems we can face and a specific mental
health condition, and that if and when it becomes a problem, it is important to seek help.
Anxiety is one word which covers such a wide range of experiences and means different things to all of us. Thank you to the Mental Health Foundation for creating Mental Health Awareness Week and shining a spotlight on anxiety.
I hope the upcoming Mental Health Awareness Week and its focus on anxiety stimulates conversation, awareness, and understanding of the full range of experiences of anxiety, what we might do if we experience it, if we are supporting others experiencing
it and to know when, how and where to get help from when we need it.
For Mental Health Awareness Week, we have created two exclusive resources for our MHFAiders® on the myths surrounding anxiety and how to apply the MHFA action plan when supporting someone who might be experiencing anxiety.
All MHFAiders® who have access to support and benefits will receive these resources next week.
Click here for details on our Support and Benefits
