Top Tips for improving your Mental Health 🙌

From mental health expert Noel McDermott

Author: Alex RossPublished 10th Jul 2020

Life is hard enough in normal times, never mind when you throw a global pandemic in the mix, along with a LOT of unusual changes to your normal lifestyle. So, if you are feeling a little bit down right now, don't hide your feelings, it's OK to talk about how you're feeling with others and it can often help.

Noel McDermott, Psychotherapist and Mental Health Expert, joined Tyler as he covers KISS Breakfast this week, providing some amazing top tips to help improve your mental health, and revealing why you shouldn't be giving yourself a hard time if you are feeling down right now.

Speaking to Tyler, Noel said, "There's this thing called resilience. Resilience is our ability to cope with life's shocks. We get our resilience from having a stable home life, having a stable work life or school life, stable relationships with family, stable relationships with our mates etc.

"As long as they are stable we can deal with most things. The thing about the pandemic is that it has destabilised every single area of our lives at the same time, so that is really, really tough.

"If anybody is struggling at the moment, that's normal. That's a really normal response to this really bizarre situation that we are in.

"Do not give yourself a hard time if you are having a hard time."

See Noel's top tips for improving your mental health below:

Highlighting some of the clear signs of mental health struggles, Noel said, "Problems with intimacy, losing their temper, drinking a bit too much, being disconnected from their friends, anxiety, having too many worries that they can't stop, depression, so feeling that they've done something wrong that they are worthless, that they are not dealing with these things properly. Worries about the future and work, and finances."

Noel also told Tyler that if you are struggling or have any worries right now, you should NOT be keeping those to yourself.

And although the top tips above are great ways to improve your overall mental health, there's also a lot of amazing professional services you can reach out to for help and support.

Where's Your Head At?

Samaritans

Therapy for Black Girls

CALM

Switchboard LGBT+

Black Minds Matter

You can get in touch with Noel McDermott himself, by checking out his website right here.

Remember, if you are suffering with any mental health issues, don't keep it to yourself, speak up and reach out to the appropriate service.

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