Today is World Mental Heath Day - The Theme: "Young People And Mental Health In A Changing Worl

In recent years, thanks to some high profile, much loved and well respected people in our society, and a great deal of hard work to raise awareness, mental health is being taken more seriously and is becoming less taboo.....and long may this continue! I long for the days when we feel able to talk about our mental health in the same way we do our physical health, without fear of negative consequences or stigma, knowing and trusting that we will be received with compassion and understanding. Perhaps the "young people" and the "changing world" hold the key to unlocking this potential.....

Let's face it......we all have a mind.....which means we are all at risk of our mental health experiencing turbulent times. It is also a fact that our minds and our bodies have a indisputable connection and thus our physical and mental health and wellbeing are intertwined - just take a minute to really think about the taste of a lemon...and notice how just that thought creates physical reactions in your body.....just from a single thought! When we experience physical ill health this can affect our mental health, and vice versa. It is evident that most of us cannot predict the future, how the future will affect us and how we will respond to it. I have heard countless times within my life and career "I never thought this would happen to me" and "I didn't see this coming". We do not live in a bubble and so we are all vulnerable to life events affecting us physically, mentally and emotionally.

Within my work as an Occupational Therapist at MaxIndependence, working with people with brain injuries, I have had the opportunity to witness the resilience, strength and capacity that the human body and mind has to heal and overcome difficulties. I have observed how physical trauma can both positively and negatively affect a person's outlook on the world, how a person feels they fit into the world, and how people value themselves and others. As a Hypnotherapist, at RiverRockTherapySolutions, working with people with a range of emotional challenges that negatively affect their lives, including anxiety, depression, confidence issues, and poor self esteem, I have seen people, using only the awesome power of their own mind, overcome self limiting beliefs, and watched them transform before my eyes, such that those challenges no longer limit their lives. I have witnessed this time and time again, and am truly humbled to be able assist people to access their own internal physical, mental and emotional resources to overcome life's challenges and go on and enjoy living their lives.

We all have an amazing, truly awe inspiring ability within ourselves, an ability to identify, release and strengthen resources already within us, to enable us to learn and practice the skills of being more compassionate and kind to ourselves and others, healing some of the scars of life, and increasing our resilience to face challenges as they present themselves in our future. Sometimes we need a little help to find these resources within, and we at RiverRockTherapySolutions are happy to help with that. If you are struggling with finding your resources right now, let us help you find them.....they are most certainly there, we will simply guide you to them and give you the space you need to reconnect with them. This will create a profound, long lasting changes in you and your life.

So, on World Mental Health Day, when considering mental health, today and all days, I encourage people to be kind and compassionate to yourselves and to others, keep talking and supporting each other.