Talking about mental health
I have experienced and hear clients discuss struggling to talk about their mental health.
Everyone’s reasoning for holding back on this tends to be slightly different, maybe it’s fear of rejection? Fear of judgment? Not wanting to burden others with your emotions? I really hear a mixed bag of reasons.
I notice after first sessions with clients often say “It felt so good just to say it all.” This echoes across different ages, genders, sexualities, ethnicities and reasons for coming to sessions etc… While our society has progressed in discussing mental health on a surface level, often within everyday lives, people are keeping something to themselves.
I wonder if this takes us back to last week’s topic, shame? Perhaps the thing that silences us all is the shame of all the fears and worries I mentioned at the start.
I truly enjoy supporting clients to begin to feel comfortable opening up to me and then carrying that sentiment into their everyday lives.
One way I often do this is by encouraging client to test the waters with someone the client sees often but doesn’t feel very close with for example a work colleague, a neighbour, or someone at the gym. Here they might share what is just under the surface, maybe not everything that may feel too much while practicing this but enough to get a sense of connection with the other person and offload a little. This means clients feels there is less at risk. They might care a little less if it doesn’t go as they hoped [which honestly this rarely happens], while getting to practice opening up. Then gradually, at the client’s pace, they can look at opening up on a deeper level with people closer to them.
The stigma connected to mental health is slowly evolving and I am excited to see this continue.
If you’d like to talk more about how this impacts you I’d love you to get in touch today.
