Mental Health Support

Many of you will feel anxious, lonely or stressed as you face pressures in your home or working life. Everyone reacts differently to events and the way that we think, feel and act can change over time. It is important to seek support when you need it.

Looking after our mental health and wellbeing is even more important right now. There are fantastic resources available online which can help guide you and give you advice on how to manage your mental health. Here are few key things which will help to support you on your journey.
• Connect with others
• Talk about your worries
• Keep active
• Protect your sleep
• Manage your media intake
• Maintain a routine
• Continue or try out new hobbies
• Be mindful

Mental Health First Aider

Ann Ellmers

Ann Ellmers - Chairman - MHFA

Most of you already know me (you lucky, lucky people) but for those of you that don’t my role within the Riverside Runners is Club Secretary, and, in addition to this I am a Mental Health First Aider (MHFA).

My own experience in 2019 with mental health gave me the knowledge of what it is like to go through such a dark time in life and a better understanding of the support people need to help them during their own journey. It was for this reason that I decided to become a MHFA.

A MHFA is trained to:

Encourage people to challenge the language that is used around mental health
Explore different frames of reference and the stigma attached to mental health
Help people to understand what good mental health looks like
Explore the factors that can have an impact on mental health
Skills to support yourself and others with self-care and to influence mental health and help prevent mental ill health
How to intervene, reassure and signpost to further support
Talk about what to do if someone is unwell and the steps to take for early intervention
Talk about recovery from mental illness and looking forward

My story:

I first started struggling with my mental health whilst working at a local company. My manager was abusing her position and regularly treated me unfairly. I was verbally abused almost every day and was shown no respect. The problems that I was having seemed to creep up on me all of a sudden, and I was left in a state of self hatred and fear. I wasn't sure how to handle my emotions. For me, the first step to recovery was admitting that I needed help. I drove home for lunch one day and was having self destructive thoughts, I told my family & friends how I was feeling that evening and had a complete meltdown. I went to my GP the next morning, sat in his office in floods of tears and he signed me off for a month initially, this then turned into 3 months. Simply talking about my problems out loud to people that supported me was freeing, I owe such a lot to my friends (you know who you are).

Going to the doctor's to discuss how I'd been feeling was scary, but I knew that only positives could come from it. I never did go back to that place of employment, it was a great position, had a large pay packet and a company car allowance, but I realised my mental health healing process needed me to remove myself from that toxic situation. I am feeling a lot better now. Don't get me wrong, not every day is perfect, but I now feel more equipped to manage my mental health.

If you're reading this and you feel nervous about admitting that there is something wrong, please know that reaching out for help is the first stage of your recovery process - you are so brave, and things can only get better.

I am here and I am listening, all you need to do is talk.

Additional Club MHFA's

Katy Davies

Chris Dowsett

Anna Ramply

Contact us, in complete confidence, here.