This week in the UK is Mental Health Awareness week, and it is both encouraging and important that the conversation surrounding the stigma of mental health has been highlighted in recent years.
As a community, we have collectively been supporting those of us who have recently lost a loved one and the impact this has had on you personally. We want you to know that our care and support is ongoing even if you are no longer in that caring role, for as long as you feel you need us. Most importantly you need to take care of yourselves during this period of adjustment to new circumstances. Your mental health is important and you will no doubt at some point start to experience the grieving process. For some folks this happens immediately, for others, it may be delayed or may not happen for a long time depending on your personality and personal circumstances. When we grieve we often experience a cycle of emotions from disbelief, to anger, to denial, to coming to terms with it, this is called the ‘Grief Cycle’ model, first proposed by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1969) in her book On Death and Dying. We experience a sense of loss, of ending, not only deeply missing our loved ones, but the role we played in their care, the loss of identity, the loss of purpose, the loss routine and so much more.
So in this Mental Health Awareness week, may we encourage you all if you are struggling to come to terms with your loss, even if it was many years ago, to reach out for help if you feel you need someone to talk too. I will include crisis support helplines links below. It takes time to process our emotions and come to a place of acceptance of a new reality. Only then can we start to move forward, to make adaptations, to plan, to allow hopeful expectation to rise inside us to find hope for the future.
Be gentle with yourselves.
Best wishes
MAS Nurse and Moderator
UK Crisis Support Helplines:
Cruse Bereavement Counselling: Tel 0808 808 1677 cruse.org.uk/
The Samaritans Tel: 116 123 [24 hours line]
NHS: 999 [Emergencies]
NHS 111 [Non-Emergencies]
MIND UK charity: Helpline Tel: 0300 123 3393 info@mind.org.uk Text: 86463 mind.org.uk/information-sup...
References:
Kubler Ross, E (1969). On Death and Dying. [Online] Available at Amazon. ISBN-10: 0415463998. ISBN-13: 978-0415463997
