What are the menopause signs? Do you know anyone who is going through menopause? Do you understand how it affects them emotionally?  

Thank you, Lauren Chiren, for joining me today. This series is on Menopause. Lauren is a health coach and workplace wellbeing trainer for corporates, concentrating on the topic of menopause.

World Menopause Day is on 18th October every year.

Lauren’s 3 Key Top Tips are:

1) Find trusted people to talk to.

2) Look after yourself and keep hydrated.

3) When you are feeling anxious, breathe.

You can contact Lauren on her Linked In Page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenchiren/

Subscribe to this YouTube channel - Mental Health Chats. Kathryn Colas, the founder of Simply Hormones will be joining me next time to talk about Menopause and Hormonal Depression. Let us open up chats and build awareness for anyone suffering from a mental illness. Please like, comment, share, and ask questions. #MentalHealthCourses #MentalIllness #NHSMentalHealth #MenopuaseMeaning #MenopauseSymptomsUK #MenopauseMatters

“Emotional Fitness: A-Z for Positive Mental Health”, is a self-help book to help you bring positive mental health into your life.  Click here to buy. 

Do you want to get the most out of life? Do you want to take charge of your emotions? Do you want to stay in control of your mental health? This wellbeing book will help you help yourself to have positive mental health.

What do you know about grieving? Is grieving just about death? 

Grieving has many more aspects to it than death as we found out from our series for Mental Health Chats on grieving. Thank you, Peter Dundon (AKA Benny) for bringing all the facts together.

In the series, Monica Kleijn Evason and Tina Mitchell Skinner gave different aspects of death.

Ann Allen opened up the conversation of grieving, helping us to understand that grieving isn’t just about death.

Benny’s 3 take-home messages are:

1)    We need to normalise death and destigmatise.

2)    Be prepared for the grieving process as it takes time to heal. We shouldn’t try to speed people up.

3)    Understanding and supporting others will ease the pain for the person dying and the grieving process.

Subscribe to my YouTube channel - Mental Health Chats.

Our next topic is on menopause and Lauren Chiren from 'Women of a Certain Stage' will be joining me to talk about how menopause affects mental health. Let's open up chats and build awareness for anyone suffering from a mental illness. Please like, comment, share, and ask questions. #MentalHealthCourses #MentalIllness #NHSMentalHealth #GrievingProcess #GrievingMeaning #MentalHealthTraining

In October 2020 I launched my book '“Emotional Fitness: A-Z for Positive Mental Health”, this a self-help book to help you bring positive mental health into your life.  Click here to buy

Do you understand grieving? Is grieving just about death? 

Thank you, Ann Allen, for joining me today. This series is on Grieving. Ann helps people get out of sadness and back into their life. She deals in recovery and moving forward and helps people redefine their life, blossom, get their lives back, and have a purpose, having a new life with identity. Going from despair to opening up a new life.

Ann says that grief can be defined as your normal and natural emotional reaction to any loss that is significant to you. It may not be important to someone else but it is important to you. We will all experience over 42 different losses in our life.

Loss and grief are so much more than death and dying. The ways we can understand grief for someone who has gone through loss are:

1) Everybody is different. Every relationship is unique. We have different ways of reacting.

2) There is no timeline, it is not necessarily linear.

3) We can’t fix someone. We can support them and listen to them. It’s about them. We may say things that are intellectually true, but they may not help people emotionally.

Ann is able to be contacted on Linked In at this link. You can also contact Ann on the following website: 

Subscribe to this YouTube channel - Mental Health Chats.

Benny’s back next time to give us some interesting facts about grieving. Let's open up chats and build awareness for anyone suffering from a mental illness. Please like, comment, share, and ask questions. #MentalHealthCourses #MentalIllness  #NHSMentalHealth #GrievingMeaning #GrievingCycle #GrievingDefinition

In October 2020 I launched my book '“Emotional Fitness: A-Z for Positive Mental Health”, this a self-help book to help you bring positive mental health into your life.  Click here to buy. 

How can we support someone who is dying? How do you support the person who is closest to them?

Thank you, Tina Mitchell Skinner, for joining me today. This series is on Grieving. Tina is the founder of Brain Tumour Support, a charity based in Bristol that supports anyone who is affected by a brain tumour and helps people across the whole of the UK.

Tina’s husband, Paul died 18 years ago of a brain tumour, 18 months after diagnosis. She found at the time there was very little support for the family and carers as well as the person diagnosed with the brain tumour. Brain Tumour Support aims to help the ‘complete family.’

Brain Tumour Support is an independent charity who rely on donations. To donate, visit their website: https://www.braintumoursupport.co.uk/

Subscribe to my YouTube channel - Mental Health Chats.

Ann Allen, an Advanced Grief Recovery Specialist will be joining me for the next chat and will talk about 'Understanding Grieving'. Let us open up chats and build awareness for anyone suffering from a mental illness. Please like, comment, share and ask questions. #MentalHealthCourses #MentalIllness #NHSMentalHealth #GrievingSymptoms #GrievingProcess

In October 2020 I launched my book '“Emotional Fitness: A-Z for Positive Mental Health”, this a self-help book to help you bring positive mental health into your life.  Click here to buy. 

Do you talk about death? 

Thank you Monica Evason for joining me in this first episode of this series on Grieving.

Monica is based in Barcelona and is a mindset coach. Throughout Covid-19 Monica has coached people through coping with death, and as a result, has been nicknamed ‘The Death Coach’. Monica talks to medical staff, families, and those people with Covid-19 about the stages of death, their attitude and approach to death, how to have the conversation, giving them emotional and social support, and helping them through the process.  Monica has learnt the following about death:

1) We need to normalise death and talk about death, opening up the conversation.

2) Adults need to be role models on how to look at death.

3) We need to understand the pain and empathise with others who are grieving as it takes a long time to heal. Grief can last a lifetime.

Monica suggested the Book, “With the End in Mind” by Kathryn Mannix. She said it is a difficult read and is very informative.

Subscribe to my YouTube channel - Mental Health Chats.

Tina Mitchell Skinner, the Founder of Brain Tumour Support will be joining me for the next chat and will talk about Supporting Someone Who is Dying. Let's open up chats and build awareness for anyone suffering from a mental illness. Please like, comment, share, and ask questions. #MentalHealthCourses #MentalIllness  #NHSMentalHealth #Grieving #Bereavement

In October 2020 I launched my book '“Emotional Fitness: A-Z for Positive Mental Health”, this a self-help book to help you bring positive mental health into your life.  Click here to buy it. 

Mental Health Chats: Men and Mental Health – Facts we Should Know – Peter Dundon (AKA Benny)

Are you aware that 75% of suicides in #Australia and #UK are men?  Let's support our men and keep talking about their emotions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b034m933ue0

Peter Dundon (AKA Benny) is here to bring together the huge topic of Men’s Mental Health and give us some facts.

Benny summed up the main messages from Warren Davies and Rob Osman. Both men gave advice from their own personal perspective. Warren’s message was about coping in isolation. Benny likes Rob’s angle to go for a ‘walk and talk’ as the different environment facilitates discussion. The greatest challenge men have, is to ‘open up’ due to the stigma.

Dr. Jason Spendelow outlined the 3 key components of flexible masculinity as being: flexible thinking, flexible behaviour, and having a compassionate mind.

Subscribe to my YouTube channel - Mental Health Chats.

My next guest is Monica Kleijn Evason who will be starting the topic on Grieving and will be talking about “opening up the ‘D’ Word.”  Let's open up chats and build awareness for anyone suffering from a mental illness. Please like, comment, share and ask questions.#MentalHealthSupport #OnlineMentalHealthSupport #MentalHealthFamilySupport #SuicidePrevention #SuicideHelp #SuicideAwareness #SuicideCharities

Mental Health Chats: Men and Mental Health – “Changing the Identity of Masculinity” Jason Spendelow, The Flexible Man Project

What is flexible masculinity? How do men cope with challenges in their life? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjBPGXRlIQk&t=15s

Thank you Jason Spendelow, https://www.flexibleman.com/ for joining me today. This series is on Men’s Mental Health. All that is discussed relates to everyone, not just men. Jason is a coaching and clinical psychologist and gives us valuable advice on how to cope with challenges in our life. Jason outlines the 3 key components of flexible masculinity as being:

1) Flexible thinking

2) Flexible behaviour

3) Compassionate mind (based on the work done by Paul Gilbert on Compassion Focused Therapy).

Jason Spendelow is a coach and clinical psychologist and offers a free 3 part workshop on his website:   https://www.flexibleman.com/online-workshop

Subscribe to my YouTube channel - Mental Health Chats.

Peter Dundon (aka Benny), will be back for the next chat to give more interesting facts about men and mental health.  Let's open up chats and build awareness for anyone suffering from a mental illness. Please like, comment, share and ask questions. #MentalHealthCourses #MentalIllness  #SuicidePreventionDay #MensMentalHealth #SuicideAwareness #NHSMentalHealth

Thank you, Warren Davies, http://www.theunbreakablefarmer.com.au/, for joining me today. This series is on Men's Mental Health. All that is discussed relates to everyone, not just men. Warren is from a farming area in Northern Victoria, Australia, and gives us valuable advice on how to cope in isolation.

The lessons Warren learned are:

1)    Communication is key. Communicate your emotions, how you are feeling, your challenges. Have conversations with your support network. Your support network - the 5 people you love and trust.

2)    Staying connected with your community. Your community may be family, close friends, sporting groups.

3)    Seek help and treat it seriously.

Warren Davies is an inspirational speaker on Mental Health for community groups. Reach out if you need someone for your next function.

Subscribe to my YouTube channel - Mental Health Chats. 

Let's open up chats and build awareness for anyone suffering from a mental illness. Please like, comment, share and ask questions. #MentalHealthSupport #SuicideHelp #MensMentalHealth #MentalHealthTraining #MentalHealthCourses

Do you have men in your life whom you care about? How comfortable are they at talking about their emotions? It’s OK to not be OK. The light will always follow the dark. 

Thank you Rob Osman from Dudes n Dogs for joining me today. This series on Men’s Mental Health relates to everyone, not just men. Rob mentions we need to value talking and recognises that men are sometimes not good at talking. The environment allows men to feel comfortable with talking.

At the moment DudesnDogs is running in most areas in England and is following Covid-19 guidelines. If there is anyone in North England or Scotland who is interested in setting up some groups, reach out to Rob. 

Rob Osman is a coach and an inspirational speaker on Mental Health in the Workplace and in community groups. Reach out if you need someone.

Subscribe to this Podcast - Mental Health Chats. Warren Davies will be our next guest talking about "Coping in Isolation".

Let's open up chats and build awareness for anyone suffering from a mental illness. Please like, comment, share, and ask questions. #MentalHealthSupport #SuicideHelp #MensMentalHealth #MentalIllness

This Mental Health Chat is dedicated to John Bourke, who was a dear friend of Benny’s and took his own life. Were you aware that on average there are 135 people who are impacted by the death of a loved one by suicide? There are 15 suicides a day in the UK and 8 suicides a day in Australia.

Thank you Peter Dundon for joining me to give us some facts and figures about suicide. We are aiming to break down the stigma of suicide, understanding that people complete their life as they are so low and cannot see any other way to cope. Every situation is different and we should open up conversations to help people who have suicidal thoughts.

The reason why we do not refer to the term COMMIT suicide is that suicide has been decriminalised. In the UK, the law changed in 1961, and in Australia, the different states followed the changes in law at different times. To name a few, in NSW, Australia, the law was lifted in 1983 with Queensland and Western Australia never having suicide as a crime.

The terms to be aware of are passive suicide ideation and active suicide ideation. Passive suicide ideation is where someone does not want to live, they may have suicidal thoughts but do not want to complete their life. Active suicide ideation is where someone does want to complete their life and is active in the process. If we have early intervention and talk about the thoughts, we may be able to stop someone becoming active.

Sue Mulrenan, Tony Phipps, and Declan McGann all said we need to open up conversations, talk to people, and ask the question, “Have you had suicidal thoughts?”

Subscribe to my YouTube channel - Mental Health Chats. Rob Osman will be our next guest and will be opening up the conversation about men and mental health.

Let's open up chats and build awareness for anyone suffering from a mental illness. Please like, comment, share, and ask questions. #MentalHealthSupport #SuicidePrevention #SuicideHelp