What they need:
- A shoulder to cry on
- A person to lean on
- A person(s) to listen to them
- Words of encouragement
- Support when seeking professional help
- Advice and kind guidance
- Understanding and empathy
- Support when taking medication
- Patience and compassion
- Information, tips and tricks for helping themselves cope
- A friend they know is there – a call or text or visit away when they’re overwhelmed
- Education (for them and for others to understand them better)
- Therapy options that aren’t limited
- Support groups for likeminded people
- To be told they’re ill, they have an illness, but they are NOT their illness
- Given alternative/ holistic healing methods to try for themselves – yoga, meditation, aromatherapy, acupuncture, massage, etc.
- A self care routine that’s there for them, a people to support them with this routine – reading, walking outside, baths, time out, naps, body care, decluttering, exercise, etc.
- Given a potential way out, and given reminders that help is there, coping is possible, and life can be lived
What they don’t need:
- “You’ll be fine.”
- “Are you trying to get better?”
- “It’s just in your head.”
- “You’re being weak and dramatic.”
- To be told they’re seeking attention
- To be told to get over it
- To be called crazy
- To be shunned
- For friends to forget about them
- For people to baby them and patronise them
- “You need to be on meds.”
- “You shouldn’t take medication.”
- Your judgment
- Your ridicule
- For you to add to their suffering
- Impatience and frustration
- Misunderstanding, ignorance, and assumptions
- You to be afraid of them
- “You’re too emotional”
- “You’re insane. You should be hospitalised.”
- To be told they’re not ill. That it’s not a real illness or problem.
If you need any help in bettering your mental health, or better coping with anxiety, depression, and stress, then my book “You’re As Mad As I Am” may be for you. Check it out here, and download a free sample to see what it’s all about.
If you want to hire me to write about mental health (or other), then don’t hesitate to get in touch!
