Men's Health Week Staff Blog by Zac Wilde
When planning Men's Health Week, we knew we had to talk to Zac, whose work on self-harm and suicide meant he had a powerful angle on the subject.
Hi everyone. For those of you that have not met me before (face-to-face or virtually!) My name is Zac and I currently work as the Training Quality Coordinator for Lancashire Mind.
My work revolves around Mental Health and Suicide Prevention.
I hope you are doing well and keeping safe. I know it is a bizarre and truly unique time we find ourselves in currently, so before I go any further, I would like to ask you a small favour...
Set a timer on your phone/watch/computer for 30 seconds, hit ‘start’ then close your eyes and just breathe… I will be waiting here so do not worry.
Welcome back,
I appreciate that may have seemed like an odd request for many of you but I truly believe now more than ever it is crucial we give our selves some time to just simply be.
I am delighted to be writing this blog post as part of Men’s Health Week. I believe that mental health is pretty similar to physical health. What I mean by that is that we all have it and we need to look after it. Now I am by no means an expert on Mental Health, I take each day as a chance to learn more about Mental Health.
Through my work it has been an absolute pleasure seeing all the people across Lancashire, South Cumbria and beyond that are motivated to improve Mental Health in themselves and others.
As a society we have made huge strides towards supporting mental health for all, but I recognise there is still plenty of work to be done.
There is still stigma attached to Mental Health at large, and some specific areas such as Self Harm and Suicide Prevention. ‘Attention Seeking’ is a phrase that can still be thrown around quite carelessly. Language is incredibly powerful and when supportive language is used it can empower.
When I deliver training, I highlight this by just changing one word in ‘attention seeking’ to make it ‘support seeking’. This reminds us that all of us will need support at different points in our lives.
It is not weak to reach out for support, it is incredibly brave.
In these unprecedented times it is likely that many of us are facing increased and unexpected pressures.
Be kind to yourselves, be kind to others and make sure you are reaching out for support.
I hope to see you around whether that is virtually or face-to-face.
Zac
P.S I have included some useful resources below:
Hub of Hope - https://hubofhope.co.uk/
Campaign Against Living Miserably - https://www.thecalmzone.net/
Lancashire & South Cumbria’s In times of crisis, help is available - https://www.lscft.nhs.uk/crisis
Healthier Lancashire & South Cumbria’s Suicide Prevention Webpage - https://www.healthierlsc.co.uk/suicide