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Great! Looks like you are in a good place to share your story.
Telling a mental health story requires experience in either living with, or supporting someone with, a mental health challenge or life hardship. Now is not the right time to share as part of Heart On My Sleeve movement.
You answered no…
Lived experience is one of the greatest assets that can allow us to help our fellow peers through a tough time. However, where we are in our journey is important. You don’t want to be in a situation where you may be triggered or made to feel worse by helping others. It’s best to wait until you have consistent management of your own mental health or the situation, before you put yourself out there. That doesn’t mean you have to be “fixed” (none of us are) but being able to cope on a daily basis with the issues/s that you will be talking about is important. If we aren’t there yet, that doesn’t mean we should keep it to our self; it just means we should be more private and personal until we feel like we have integrated the majority of our pain. Brene Brown who said: “I don’t tell stories or share vulnerabilities with the public until I’ve said them out loud and worked through them with the people I love first”. If it is integrated into our sense of self (i.e. we understand it and have made peace with it) then we have the right platform to tell others. For supporters, that means: are you personally stable and at peace with your role in the story, and is the person you are supporting somewhat stable now too. If you are yet to be in this position, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t tell your story, it just means now might not be the right time.
You answered no…
The right time to open up is different for everyone. We may be on top of our “core demons” and primary issues, but it could just be a hectic period in our daily life which may indicate it’s worth putting any big decisions on ice until it calms down. For example - work might be super busy, you may be a new parent, it could be close to the anniversary of the death of a loved one. Wait until things are calm before you share more publicly
You answered no…
It’s incredibly important that you have others around you that you trust to safely confide in about your experience. It’s best to wait until there are people you can lean on (professionally or personally) to talk about the process and what it is/was like for you.
You answered no…
Looking after yourself is incredibly important. Particularly during times of stress or change. Making sure we have the right routine/resources in place will help us build resilience. It could be exercise, diet, sleep, medication, hobbies, work etc. Once your self - care is solid, come back and think about telling your story then as it will be much safer for you.
You answered no…
Sharing your experience is for the benefit of others, more than anything else. It is very much a “giving” process. Yes, there are benefits to our own healing, but having our true “north star” helping others is critical to the success of storytelling. If you are doing to get attention, this is not the right intent. Reflect on your reason why you want to share, and when you are ready to be in service to others, then you are in the right frame of mine
You answered no…
Even when we are telling a story about supporting someone else, we should be focussing on how it affected us (as a carer). It can be incredibly hard & emotionally tolling to be in a support role, and its important that other carers/supporters feel understood & relate to stories as well. Hence – its important to share. That said – we will inevitably talk about the person we were helping, as part of our own narrative. In those instances, we should seek permission from that person in mentioning them, before we share more broadly. Note: you don’t have to mention them by name, you can just state your relationship to them – or perhaps not at all by saying “someone I know was going through XYZ and my role was XYZ and here is what happened”
You answered no…
Make sure you read the information provided in the “pro’s” and “con’s” section of this web page before moving on.
You answered no…
Think about telling your story when you have time to go through the training and write your story. It isn’t something that needs to be rushed.
You answered no…
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