Mental Wellbeing

 Just think about how this usually plays out: 

You’ve been feeling a bit off, something’s not quite right in your life. You are not sure what it is but you’re becoming less interested in life, you are heading to bed early, you’ve started to turn down invites to go out. 

Or you are stuck. Your career isn’t what you thought it would be. That marriage isn’t so full of love and happiness anymore. Your family life is making it hard to breathe, your Pinterest boards and schedule of playdates are looking shoddy.

Or you are just so bloody lonely. You haven’t had a decent conversation in months. You’ve thought about calling someone but who? You watch shows with groups of friends and cry at the credits because it’s so heartbreakingly distant from where you are. Your PJs are becoming day clothes.

Or you are fed up. Or terrified of everything. Or shutting down. Or grumpy as hell. Or just urgh.

So, what to do to about it – well you could do nothing. That probably feels about right.

Or you could do something – you’ve heard about some pill that might help so you head to the doctor’s surgery. You know a friend who once went to therapy and thought it was kind of great, so maybe you could try that. Either would be fine. And for many people that really is.

And / Or maybe you could do something else. Really what we’re trying to do here is find the thing that works for you. Everyone is different.

Anxiety and depression are rapidly rising in the UK and US, and our ability to talk about and treat these conditions is changing. What’s available to us is shifting. Beyond the usual suspects, medication and talk therapy, there’s more, much more – initiatives, spaces and people that can help us in new and creative ways. There are brilliant, inspiring and creative things that are available to us around connection, and meaning, and purpose, that might make you feel better, and good, and valued. If you feel any of these conditions, others feel it too, and people are doing great, non-stigmatizing things about it. 

Many of these draw from people’s own frustrated experiences finding the help they need. Whether in the case of Ciaran Biggins of MindFood talking to people and realizing that the day centers that they attended weren’t giving them the sense of purpose and connection they were looking for; or Ali Strick, founder of Arts Sisterhood, who tried to find art therapy groups in London, but found instead “programs within medium-security mental hospitals that needed a doctor’s referral, art therapy for children or the mentally/physically disabled or extremely expensive one-on-one art therapy.” Or with Bryony Gordon of Mental Health Mates who wanted “a kind of regular meet-up that other organizations have, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, but aimed at people with mental health issues, and for that to be combined with getting out the house and doing some gentle exercise: in our case, walking.”

We’re including here some of these places, and more, that you can head to when you’re wobbling, struggling, plummeting, or just drowning and not really waving at all. Just search for ‘mental wellbeing’ in the categories and find your place.