22nd April 2018
Trigger warning – depression, suicide
Next week I will be attending a “Mental Health Awareness” course with St John Ambulance and so I thought it would be interesting to do a two part blog. This is the first part in which I am going to talk about why I am doing the course and what I am expecting. The second part will be after the course and talk about how I found it.
Throughout my life I have suffered with periods of mental illness. As an Autistic, my anxiety levels are always high and I have been through several periods of depression. The first serious event occurred when I was fifteen which was when I was first prescribed antidepressants. I also had counselling which to this day, has been a great benefit to me. The pills helped to take the edge of the symptoms and the therapy helped me to come to terms with my problems.
I just want to say that I was unaware that I was Autistic then, being diagnosed as an Adult. Autism is NOT a mental illness. Autistic people are just wired differently. However, some of the traits of Autism such as sensory overload means that an Autistic can be more susceptible to poor mental illness such as depression.
When I got my diagnosis I went through a process of joy and understanding, followed by a long period of reflection of my life. From talking to other adults diagnosed later in life, it became apparent that these stages were quite normal. In fact my advice to anyone just diagnosed is to seek out other Autistics. I was luckily enough to find a local group that attended. After a period of time and reading some of the statistics associated with Autism, I began to want to do something to raise awareness and acceptance of how Autistic people function. In short I wanted to help.
I also decided to disclose at work and that has been successful. My manager has been very understanding and things have been put into place to help me deal with some of the more difficult aspects of my job. However, it also became clear that there is a long way to go and that my company is still lacking in awareness of differences in people such as Autism. I also noticed that attitudes towards mental illness were poor and that some understanding was needed. Having already been using my blog and website as a platform to raise awareness, I thought that I was in the perfect position to help bring about change within the company.
It turns out the company was already beginning to address the issue and are welcoming my input, in the areas of Autism, Invisible Disabilities, Disability, Mental Health and Well being. Obviously I can use my own life experiences of Autism and mental illness here, but I felt that I needed to learn more to be able to advise better, both in areas I already know and ones that I don’t.
Therefore I have decided to get some accreditation behind me as well as my own personal experience. Already I have taken the “Women and Girls on the Autism Spectrum” module from the National Autistic Society and next week I will have undertook the Mental Health Awareness course.
The course covers Mental Health First Aid, Mental Health Stress in the Workplace, discrimination around mental health, warning signs and much more. I have already said that I want the accreditation that comes with this course, but also I want the knowledge and the skills too.
For example, I know what it feels like suffer from mental illness but if I saw somebody crying in the corner at work, would I know how to help? Would I know what to say? If I overheard someone mocking mental illness, would I know how to explain why that is a negative thing? How can I share my experiences with people in a way that is constructive and positive? Finally, to sum this all up, how can I help?
Saint John Ambulance does two courses on Mental Health. A two day course that qualifies the attendee to be a Mental Health First aider. I did think about doing this course but after speaking to a friend who is a Mental Health First Aider, I don’t think I could be detached enough.
What I mean is, if I had a suicidal person come to me for first aid, then as an anxious person myself, would I be worrying about them all the time. This would be detrimental to my own health. It is important I think that you have to look after yourself in order to be helpful to anyone else.
Do not get me wrong though I would not turn a suicidal person away and not help, but my help would be more likely to be getting the right people to help that person. Therefore it made more sense to do the one day course and be a Mental Health Awareness Champion. I believe from where I am currently at that this will be the best way I can help others by raising understanding about mental health.
Therefore I will be taking the course next week, and though slightly anxious about attending (mainly social anxiety about who else will be there); I am looking forward to it. Please come back next week and read about how I found the experience.