Reaching Out For Mental Health Support
Reaching Out For Mental Health Support
Dear Tacit,
When does a person know it’s time to reach out for mental health support?
Signed: Reaching Out For Mental Health Support
Dear Reaching Out For Mental Health Support,
This is a uniquely personal decision – it has to be made by each of us individually, as we feel ready to create change in our life.  Recognizing when to seek mental health support takes courage, self awareness, and a desire for things to improve.  And those factors are not as simple as they sound.
Reaching out for mental health support requires some basic practicalities.  We need to have the time, energy, and resources (like hours in the day, finances or benefit coverage, a babysitter, or transportation) to be able to create the opportunity to access the support that we need.  We need to have some idea of what kind of support we want to try.  And then we must be able to find options for that support (to find the right fit for our personality) and be able to get the support we have chosen in a timely manner (based on how often/how soon feels right to us).
Ironically, human beings are notorious for not being truly ready to change until they are struggling.  Change is hard, even when it is the best thing for us.  When we are uncomfortable “enough” – or in enough pain or sick enough of how things are – the effort, time, and difficulty that is required to make a change happen seems easier (or more worthwhile) when compared to how yucky we are feeling.  Feeling “enough” (in a negative way) is an essential part of the motivation or the drive that we require to take action.
There are external Influences that can cause a person to feel “enough” and ready to reach out for some emotional support.  We may have experienced a crisis, or a loss, or a major milestone that suddenly has us reflecting on our choices/circumstances in life.  The people we are closest to might start encouraging us to make some changes – their support or concern can help us realize we are not doing as well as we thought.  Or we might notice someone around us is achieving a goal we wanted in life, and realize we have become stuck somehow.
There are some internal motivating factors that also help us feel like we have had “enough”.  We might start noticing some physical health risks or symptoms that demand our attention – like chronic headaches, fatigue, or stomach issues – or drastic changes in our sleeping and eating patterns – that have no other cause and are linked to stress.
We might begin to feel overwhelmed and exhausted.   We might experience noticeable drops in school performance or have trouble managing our usual daily life responsibilities (at work, in relationships, with our self-care). We might start to withdraw from friends, family, or activities that we used to enjoy – or develop sudden irritability, aggression, or risk-taking behaviors.
We might develop some problematic coping strategies, like an over-reliance on food, alcohol, weed, gambling, shopping, or on other behaviours that we use to numb out or avoid/distract from our feelings.
We might struggle with persistent emotional distress – this can include feelings of sadness, anxiety, or anger that don’t go away; or frequent mood swings or feelings of being overwhelmed.  We might start feeling worthless.  We could be having thoughts of harming ourselves or feeling like life isn’t worth living (or that others would be better off if we weren’t around).
When you or someone you know needs to make a change and seems ready to reach out for some mental health support, it’s important to start talking about it.  Contacting a professional is a great way to begin the process – a community therapist, spiritual leader, coach, teacher, school counsellor, primary care doctor or online support group/FB group/chat room can often help guide an individual towards the resources that are a right fit for their needs.
The process of seeking help is a complicated one.  Seldom will it be a direct path from problem feelings to a positive change solution.  There will be starts and sputters – backslides and plateau moments.  The journey to improved mental wellbeing can occasionally seem as tiring and exhausting as the original circumstances were – and this might feel defeating, at times.
But reaching out for help is always a move toward healing and growth, no matter how small the step forward might be.  The challenges of the process are temporary.  The success is felt quite quickly when a person is ready to do things differently.  (Remember the old adage – the definition of “crazy” is doing the same thing, again and again, but expecting a different result.)
Take care!

Do you have a question you would like us to address? Please feel free to reach out to us at counsellors@tacitknows.com. Your answer will be provided confidentially. 

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