Through my work at eheadspace I have chatted to young people who because of their own lived experience with mental illness present with lots of compassion and care for their loved ones who are going through a difficult time with their own mental health. I have admired their willingness and dedication to supporting others whilst also maintaining their own recovery.
Young people often reach out to eheadspace for support because they are worried about a friend who isn’t doing so well. Their friend may be self harming or having thoughts of suicide, but they don’t want their friend telling anyone. So the young person is left balancing their worry for their friend as well concerns about breaching their trust, this can take a toll of their own wellbeing and recovery. We work with young people to strike that balance between the needs of their friend and their own needs.
In this type of situation I try to support the young people to attend to their own self care, to identify the signs of when our “tank” is running on empty and how we fill that up. Importantly we talk about “sharing the load” so having a think about who in your life you can talk to about your friend…..working out together what might be a way forward to get the friend the support they need to free up some space for your own self care.
Personally being in the mental health profession, I have to continually monitor my own stress levels because it’s super important for me to be healthy so I can have enough energy in my tank to support others who are going through hard times. When I start to feel exhausted and it gets hard to get up for work, then I know it might be time for me to take a break which may include taking annual leave or a mental health day and doing something nice for myself.
