How can I help….
Hi all welcome back to my blog, I hope everyone is having a great week. As you can tell from the title this is an addition to my mental health awareness series. I like to cover a lot of topics focused on dealing with and overcoming mental illness using what iv been through myself and what iv learned along the way to help people suffering the illness and symptoms but iv never touched on how family and friend of a person with a mental illness deal with it. It’s very difficult to watch someone you care about go through something so traumatic and not really being able to do anything. It can be very upsetting.
I know from experience with my friends and family it was tough on them in the beginning, not knowing what to say or do and not wanting to say or do anything wrong .but they learned with me and began to understand and found the little things they could do that did help and they didn’t feel so helpless anymore. I wanna get through some tips that will help if you have a family member or friend whos suffering and you’re not quite sure how to help.
people who suffer a mental health issue can live a full and successful life with the right help and support.
Avoid being judgemental and have an open mind, if you know nothing about mental health you can look at somebody and see their great job, friends, family and all the material thing in the world and then see the person in turmoil and not understand why. It’s very common to focus on the reasons you think they shouldn’t when you don’t understand the illness. The unknown is scary to most people.
Start a conversation, ask how they’re feeling, starting a dialogue shows you support them and you’re trying to understand what they’re going through. Its shows your not uncomfortable or afraid to discuss the subject. Being able to discuss how they’re feeling and their symptoms is really important and you’ve opened up a safe space to do that. It will help your loved one feel at ease and more comfortable talking. All the stigma surrounding mental health is the reason people find it hard to talk, its a topic that scares people, cause it’s not like a physical injury, there isn’t a quick fix or procedure to follow, everyone is different and handles their mental illness differently. Starting the open conversation will make you more comfortable too.
Respect the person’s limits and boundaries.
There will be times when your loved one can’t be present. whether it be socially family event or participate in activities. They may often find it hard to be around people which is completely normal. Try to respect that and don’t push or put pressure on them, support how they’re feeling and be understanding. It’s extremely hard not being able to do normal things because the symptoms of your illness hold’s you back, but the hardest thing is when you’re feeling like your letting people down.
Always try to stay in touch. This can be really hard because you’ll find you’re not getting anything back at times just silence. But the smallest thing like sending an email or a text to check in and let the person know you’re there for them means so much when your in this situation. It makes such a difference because when you’re dealing with the symptoms of your mental illness you can feel like the world is moving on around you and your kind of stuck in time. It’s very difficult when you feel trapped like that and it can be hard to watch others live their normal lives so you tend to block it all out. It’s to protect themselves rather than hurt others around them, which I know it might feel like. That small gesture of a text, email or voicemails means there still part of your life even tho they can be present, your still there.
Keep sending invites to do activities and to socialize, even if you getting turned down constantly or no response at all, keep that window open, it cant be a long frustrating road on both sides but In the long run, it will make all the difference, because there will come a day that you’ll get a yes and it will be exactly what the person needs to step out again and that’s an important step. Because you’ve kept that contact and the line of communication open on your end it makes it so much easier to take that step.
Thank you so much for checking out this blog I really appreciate it and I do hope it helps, leave me commons and let me know what you think. If you would like blog updates please subscribe. xx Paula xx