Let’s Talk

One of the most difficult things facing our society right now is Mental Health. It’s not a new thing. This is an issue near and dear to my heart. The situation surrounding our health hasn’t changed, we experienced this situation in the past. What’s new is our awareness of it, but the fact that there is still so much shame about having a mental illness. What we need to remember is that when you know better… you need to do better.

I want to be clear here, Mental Health, is Health. Health is Health. Mental Health is not about a choice. We didn’t do something wrong that caused mental health issues any different way than physical health issues. If you eat food that is bad for you and it causes problems in our physical body there is good chance that it might affect your brain too. A physical organ in your body that governs our thinking but is also affected by all of the other things that affect our physical health. What we eat is being altered and as a result it can affect our physical health and our mental health. Things like preservatives, food coloring and other food additives have been proven to cause negative affects in our body and our mind. Not to mention our addictions to having alcohol or marijuana regularly. All of these things can affect the way our brain functions.

Issues can be related to a physical incident. The other day I noticed a note regarding how to report “incidents related to injury at work”. I wondered what would happen if people used this same channel to report the abuse, bullying, and other negative situation that happen at work that affect our health negatively. These situations end up leading to people taking time off work, so why wouldn’t we report it through the same channels as a slip or fall? But… we don’t, and I’m positive it would not be accepted if we tried. I’ve been somewhat open about my situation with my mental health, and the fact that there were very specific situations that caused a trauma that now make it very difficult for me to trust. The way I was treated before the situation and even after very blunt conversations about the way I was being treated and the negative commun