0:00

Please be aware that

0:00

this episode contains discussion

0:03

around trauma, suicide, self

0:03

harm, eating disorders,

0:07

substance use, as well as mental

0:07

health conditions such as

0:11

anxiety, depression, and

0:11

borderline personality disorder.

0:16

Made the podcast from

0:16

Centerpoint by young people for

0:20

all people. Centerpoint is the UK is leading

0:23

youth homelessness charity. at

0:28

Centerpoint. We believe no young

0:28

person's life should be defined

0:32

by homelessness. We give young

0:32

people the support they need to

0:36

heal and grow no matter what.

0:36

for over 50 years, we've been

0:40

the centre point for change,

0:40

personal and political. Everyone

0:45

has their part to play with

0:45

young people leading the way

0:49

this podcast has been created by

0:49

young people with lived

0:53

experience of homelessness will

0:53

be shining a spotlight on some

0:58

of the issues that affect us. We

0:58

hope to challenge and change

1:03

some of the stereotypes and

1:03

bring others with us as part of

1:07

the movement to end youth

1:07

homelessness for good. This

1:12

podcast was recorded on Zoom due

1:12

to the Coronavirus pandemic.

1:18

Welcome to point made the new

1:18

Centerpointe podcast by young

1:22

people for all people. I'm your

1:22

host Jamie, a former resident at

1:27

Centerpoint and founder of

1:27

moving upwards. A workshop that

1:32

delivers authentic knowledge are

1:32

an expression for the mind, body

1:37

and soul. Hi, I'm Mitac, a former

1:38

Centrepointe resident and today

1:42

we'll be looking at mental

1:42

health in an unequal world.

1:45

We'll be looking at this through

1:45

our own eyes as young people

1:47

with lived experience of

1:47

homelessness as well as lived

1:51

experience of mental health

1:51

issues.

1:53

Today we will be looking at

1:53

Youth Mental Health some of the

1:58

potential causes of mental ill

1:58

health amongst young people, as

2:02

well as the inequality of mental

2:02

health provision and access.

2:07

We will end by examining and

2:07

sharing some of our own coping

2:11

strategies and opening up our

2:11

toolboxes.

2:14

But first I'd like to introduce

2:14

our panel of young people. I'm

2:19

now going to go around the

2:19

virtual panel and get all of our

2:23

talkers introduce themselves and

2:23

tell them something about

2:26

themselves. Hi, my name is Katherine and I

2:28

suffer quite badly with

2:33

emotionally unstable personality

2:33

disorder, along with bulimia,

2:37

anorexia, and depression. Hi,

2:41

I'm Morgan. I'm currently still

2:41

with centerpoint. But I'm also a

2:44

volunteer with them. I was

2:44

diagnosed with Asperger's

2:48

syndrome at the age of seven.

2:48

And I also suffer with extreme

2:52

depression at times and social

2:52

anxiety.

2:55

Hi, I'm Kevin, I'm one of the

2:55

persons at Centrepointe. And I

2:59

was diagnosed with bipolar

2:59

disorder and social anxiety.

3:06

Attack. I did suffer from mental

3:06

health in the past. I feel like

3:11

I've recovered from it a bit.

3:11

But at times I do suffer from

3:18

anxiety in a lot of bad

3:18

depression. And yeah, I was very

3:21

suicidal in the past. But I

3:21

think I've learned to deal with

3:24

all of those things now. So I'm Jamie, I have been out of

3:27

Centerpoint residency for over

3:33

four years. I grew up there

3:33

throughout most of my childhood

3:39

from 16 to 23. And since leaving

3:39

the service, I have created an

3:47

organisation that helps young

3:47

people to break out of their

3:54

difficult patterns and chains

3:54

and create a successful life for

3:59

themselves. We also have our experts in the

4:00

field here, Eve and Steven to

4:05

help answer some of our initial

4:05

questions around youth mental

4:08

health. Welcome to the show Eve.

4:08

Can you please introduce

4:13

yourself? Hi, I'm Eve Chicana. I am the

4:13

Mental Health Advisor at

4:18

Centerpoint. And I cover

4:18

Westminster and Harringay. I

4:23

also do have you know I have

4:23

lived experience of mental

4:28

health where I do you experience

4:28

anxiety still today, but it's

4:33

something that I've learned to

4:33

manage. I do have lived

4:36

experience with depression as

4:36

well and panic attacks. That is

4:40

one of the reasons why I'm so

4:40

passionate about mental health.

4:44

I am passionate about helping

4:44

young people and not just young

4:48

people, just anyone who is going

4:48

through something.

4:51

It's great to have you on the

4:51

show with Stephen, please

4:54

introduce yourself. Hi. So I'm Steven. I'm a

4:55

psychotherapist with Centerpoint

4:59

I think maybe related to

4:59

cognitive questions that are

5:02

coming up, I haven't had a

5:02

problem with my mental health or

5:05

mental well being that will get

5:05

a diagnosis. But I'm pretty sure

5:09

you don't become a

5:09

psychotherapist. If everything

5:12

seems to be hunky dory, I had a

5:12

lot to work on in myself in

5:16

terms of my relationships, how I

5:16

relate with other people, how

5:20

emotionally open I was capable

5:20

of being. And I used to a very

5:24

simple thing I used to suffer

5:24

from crippling shyness. So my

5:29

sense is very much kind of like

5:29

whatever it is that gets in the

5:32

way, if we can try and talk

5:32

about that we have a chance of,

5:35

you can never make your past go

5:35

away. Mine is still there. It's

5:39

still painful when I think about

5:39

it. But it's less of an obstacle

5:43

to me in terms of achieving the

5:43

things I would like to achieve

5:46

in my life. I think that's great, Jamie.

5:49

Okay, so some of our panellists

5:49

have some questions for you to

5:53

set the scene on our youth

5:53

mental health in the UK.

5:58

Catherine, would you like to ask

5:58

question one?

6:01

So what percentage of 16 to 25

6:01

year olds live with a mental

6:05

illness? So I'll put that to

6:05

Stephen.

6:09

I'm going to just hold my hands

6:09

up literally, if I wanted to

6:12

answer that question, I would go

6:12

and do some Googling. Eve may

6:16

have a bit more of a metric on

6:16

it. But my I would imagine that

6:22

it's very high. I mean, if a

6:22

figure of like 30 35%, wouldn't

6:26

surprise me. And the reason I

6:26

say that I would I will go on

6:29

Google is that it's not

6:29

something that's fixed, I

6:32

imagine it's probably

6:32

significantly worse now than it

6:35

was in say, obviously, like

6:35

February, March of 2020. And

6:41

that's informed by my direct

6:41

experience of the people within

6:45

Centerpoint that I'm working

6:45

with, or come into contact with,

6:48

because of what they've been

6:48

deprived of food restrictions

6:52

that the dealing with the

6:52

pandemic has required to be in

6:55

place. And I think also, as I

6:55

said earlier, I'm kind of very

7:00

wary of the diagnostic labels.

7:00

So that's why I kind of like to

7:04

look at it as broadly as possible, then can what you said is very

7:06

interesting. And I've also got a

7:09

question too. Do you think that

7:09

the percentage over the last

7:13

2030 years has increased for for

7:13

mental health and young people?

7:20

If so, what why do you think that I think it will have done I

7:23

think there's a kind of link, we

7:26

understand more and more things

7:26

as being rooted in basically how

7:32

our minds are working, how our,

7:32

from my perspective, my kind of

7:36

theoretical perspective, how our

7:36

early experiences, create

7:40

obstacles and difficulties for

7:40

us in the present. And so I

7:43

think that as time goes by more

7:43

and more things that maybe had a

7:48

very different label in the

7:48

past, you're kind of imagining

7:51

people just being labelled as,

7:51

you know, kind of behaving

7:54

badly, or doing something

7:54

deliberately, you know,

7:56

deliberately not paying

7:56

attention in class, you know,

7:58

sort of relatively

7:58

straightforward stuff like that

8:01

is now I think, understood in

8:01

quite a different way. So I

8:05

think, in one sense, the kind of

8:05

the range of behaviours and

8:09

presentations and how we

8:09

actually are with other people,

8:13

that is now understood in a, in

8:13

a way that we would be called

8:17

under the general umbrella of

8:17

mental health, I think has

8:20

massively expanded. That's my

8:20

personal response.

8:23

Eve, what's your kind of take on it? Well, I have to agree with what

8:25

Stephen said in regards to kind

8:30

of the diagnostic approach in

8:30

mental health. And in regards to

8:36

the statistics, I wouldn't say

8:36

there's a certain number.

8:40

However, in literature, it does

8:40

say that it's, you know, up to

8:45

50%. So, Steven, you are close,

8:45

but not that close. So they do

8:51

say that up to 50%, of mental

8:51

health problems are established

8:55

by the age of 14. And by 24, it

8:55

goes up to 75%.

9:01

It sounds shocking to hear but

9:01

at the same time, it doesn't

9:05

surprise me. And I do find

9:05

somewhat strange comfort in the

9:12

knowing that I'm not alone in my

9:12

struggles, and that we are all

9:16

here in this together in one way

9:16

or another. I'm going to go

9:20

ahead over to the second

9:20

question now. And I'm going to

9:23

let another one of our

9:23

panellists ask this question.

9:28

Morgan, would you like to ask

9:31

Joe thing? So what are some of

9:31

the most common mental illnesses

9:37

amongst 16 to 25 year olds? I'm

9:37

gonna direct that to Eve because

9:41

I'm sure she'll have a good insight on that. So in regards to there are a few

9:43

but I am going to mention the

9:48

ones that I do hear quite a lot

9:48

of. So we've got depression and

9:54

anxiety, panic attacks. There's

9:54

also suicidal thoughts. They Is

10:00

eating disorders, they

10:00

psychosis, this personality

10:03

disorder. I'm not gonna go into

10:03

them. But I really want to kind

10:08

of address in regards to like

10:08

with the young people, because

10:11

within my role at Centerpoint, I

10:11

work with young people who are

10:15

experiencing suicidal thoughts.

10:15

And this, especially in regards

10:20

to things like homelessness, and

10:20

you know, job loss, most of the

10:25

young people are unemployed,

10:25

they're in debt. They're

10:29

socially excluded. So that's why

10:29

we work to within our campaigns

10:33

to try and include the young

10:33

people in our activities. Some

10:37

of them are probably going

10:37

through bereavement is family

10:40

breakdown, conflict. And so they

10:40

don't really have anyone to talk

10:44

to, and I do hear quite a lot,

10:44

especially with the young people

10:48

is, you know, they do experience

10:48

suicidal thoughts. And, you

10:52

know, that can be linked to, you

10:52

know, depression, anxiety, some

10:56

of them like, you know, they

10:56

have social anxiety, and also

11:00

PTSD, some of them, especially

11:00

with the ones around the

11:04

refugees, there's something

11:04

around where they have come from

11:08

the they've experienced some

11:08

kind of trauma. So yeah, those

11:12

are just to name a few. Well, III, thank you very much

11:16

for that. So Steven, what's your

11:19

take on that question? Well, well, I won't repeat the

11:21

kind of more sort of medical and

11:25

diagnostic stuff that Eve has

11:25

mentioned, which is, you know, I

11:28

think really helpful. And I

11:28

encounter a lot, but I'm

11:32

thinking, so when I, when I

11:32

think about this in terms of my

11:36

particular discipline, my

11:36

training and what I what I

11:39

encounter with people, and

11:39

thinking, well, any, anyone

11:42

that's living with centerpoint,

11:42

in some way, we live in a

11:45

society with a particular

11:45

structure of family, that's the

11:48

sort of ideology we have, well,

11:48

something's gone really badly

11:51

wrong with that for them to wind

11:51

up living with us. So there's

11:54

really simple but powerful

11:54

things like the lack of

11:58

sufficient parental care, a lack

11:58

of nurture, that kind of can

12:03

lead to a lot of self esteem,

12:03

difficulties, or problems with

12:07

really kind of realising one's

12:07

capabilities. PTSD, I mean, that

12:12

can be something a one off

12:12

trauma could be rape, sexual

12:17

assault violence, or it could be

12:17

something kind of ongoing, where

12:21

an ongoing emotional or physical

12:21

neglect some kind of failure ill

12:26

or kind of a lack of what we

12:26

might think of as a good enough

12:29

kind of upbringing. And it

12:29

doesn't necessarily have to be

12:33

as spectacular as the ones I've

12:33

just mentioned, you know,

12:35

because when I introduced

12:35

myself, I mentioned some of my,

12:39

the kind of psychological

12:39

legacies I had to deal with,

12:41

nobody would notice anything

12:41

necessarily, about me, which I

12:45

think is also informs the way I

12:45

think about that it's not

12:48

necessarily that somebody has

12:48

something very discernible. So

12:54

that that's kind of how I would

12:54

try and answer that question.

12:57

And trying to maybe supplement

12:57

Eve who's gonna, you know, kind

13:00

of We Are we work closely with

13:00

mental health and the

13:03

psychological therapist team.

13:03

But we are different. We have

13:06

different backgrounds and

13:06

knowledge and expertise. And I

13:08

would always be looking, no, I

13:08

would always be deferring to Eve

13:11

when when it comes to kind of

13:11

more diagnostic and kind of

13:15

medical based things. So I hope

13:15

that's in some way illuminating

13:20

about how I go about working and

13:20

my kind of perspective on it.

13:25

Well, thank you very much for

13:25

that, Steven, that was really

13:28

insightful. So I'm gonna throw

13:28

it back over to Kevin, who's

13:32

going to ask our next question,

13:32

Kevin.

13:35

Thank you for that. Morgan.

13:35

Yeah, so I have a question. How

13:40

quickly can a young person

13:40

access mental health services

13:43

within the NHS within the UK? If

13:43

I'll ask, Stephen for that.

13:51

Hi, Kevin. Um, I think I'm

13:51

probably gonna hedge my bets and

13:55

have sort of two or three kind

13:55

of answers to that. I think if

13:59

somebody is in really acute

13:59

distress, and they're present at

14:02

a&e, they will get or they

14:02

should get an immediate

14:07

response. I think the question

14:07

is how effective and helpful to

14:10

them that response is, I think

14:10

my kind of general experience

14:15

both directly from from young

14:15

people that I've met and worked

14:18

with, also from listening to

14:18

colleagues within the team,

14:21

particularly each team mental

14:21

health advisors, it can be quite

14:25

short term. And oftentimes, what

14:25

they're really looking for what

14:30

they really want is something

14:30

much longer term. So something

14:33

more like perhaps a talking

14:33

therapy, which is what I and my

14:37

colleagues in the psychological

14:37

therapist team are able to

14:40

offer. I know that when you're

14:40

when somebody you know, when

14:42

you're in an acute crisis, if

14:42

you're kind of feeling actively

14:46

suicidal, you're actually you

14:46

know, either doing something or

14:49

really planning to the

14:49

psychotherapy isn't what you

14:51

need, you need an immediate kind

14:51

of help to get out of that

14:55

particular state so that you're

14:55

able to take up a perhaps,

14:58

psychotherapy offer That's kind

14:58

of one level of walk, how fast

15:02

can you access something? I

15:02

think when you start thinking

15:04

about something that's more like

15:04

therapy, it seems to, you know,

15:08

my general anecdotal

15:08

experiences, it's a long time.

15:12

And it's very hard to access

15:12

talking therapy, there's a kind

15:16

of, you'll all I'm sure you all

15:16

know that, you know, kind of

15:18

services are under immense

15:18

pressure. So there's this sort

15:21

of threshold to access talking

15:21

therapy kind of constantly

15:25

creeps up. So that somebody

15:25

might be in quite, you know,

15:29

really struggling, but not quite

15:29

struggling enough to get an

15:33

access to a talking therapy,

15:33

they might be offered something

15:35

much more short term, perhaps

15:35

more CBT based, which in Britain

15:40

has a very particular flavour,

15:40

but Eve might be able to or have

15:43

sort of a bit of expansion or

15:43

amplification of the points I'm

15:46

making here. So I think there's

15:46

kind of my answer that is kind

15:49

of it's twofold. And I think for

15:49

what a lot of the time, what my

15:53

experience the young people have

15:53

sent, what they really want is

15:55

very hard to access, which is an

15:55

opportunity to sit down with

15:59

somebody who doesn't come with

15:59

an agenda, who is just open to

16:04

exploring with them, whatever it

16:04

is they want to bring, I hope

16:07

that at the same time doesn't

16:07

sound kinda too idealistic about

16:10

what it is I do at Centerpoint. Thank you for for that. Steven,

16:12

I'm gonna ask the same question

16:17

to Eve. One of the things that I thought

16:18

about when I had the question

16:22

and kind of what Stephen said

16:22

was, you know, the question we

16:27

should really be asking is, how

16:27

quickly can a young person

16:31

understand they're experiencing

16:31

a mental health problem, because

16:34

if they don't know that they're

16:34

experiencing it, then the time

16:38

that it takes for them to

16:38

actually get that help is

16:41

longer. When it comes to like

16:41

mental health services, it's

16:44

first of all, very hard to say.

16:44

Because, as Steven mentioned,

16:47

there is a threshold, that

16:47

sometimes can be quite

16:50

difficult. And, you know, we've

16:50

had this experience where,

16:55

especially if I give you an

16:55

example, let's say I've got a

16:59

young person experiencing some

16:59

eating disorder, but then has

17:04

associated mental health

17:04

problems with it, then becomes

17:08

difficult because the young

17:08

person wants to access eating

17:12

disorders team, but then they

17:12

also want to access the mental

17:16

health team. But then there's

17:16

this thing where, you know,

17:19

eating disorders want to ensure

17:19

that they go through the Mental

17:22

Health First, whereas mental

17:22

health believed that they should

17:25

be able to access both services.

17:25

So it's always a back and forth

17:30

fight from what I have

17:30

experienced. And that is also in

17:34

regards to dual diagnosis. When

17:34

a young person needs the mental

17:40

health support needs the

17:40

substance use support. However,

17:44

according to the substances,

17:44

they cannot be seen until they

17:47

go through mental health. So it

17:47

is a struggle, depending on what

17:52

what the young person needs.

17:52

However, as Steven mentioned,

17:56

you know, if it's something

17:56

that, you know, they do need

17:58

that immediate, they're at

17:58

crisis point, they will be seen.

18:03

However, it is also unfortunate

18:03

that sometimes that it has to

18:08

get to that critical point, for

18:08

young people to actually access

18:13

that support, I have had

18:13

experience of just working in

18:16

the Westminster services, where

18:16

I've had built those

18:20

relationships with the mental

18:20

health services, where I have

18:24

seen that the young people are

18:24

seen a lot quicker. And that is

18:28

why here at Centerpoint, we

18:28

bridge the gap, you know, the

18:31

health team, were able to bridge

18:31

that gap between the mental

18:36

health services and the young

18:36

people. So where I come in is, I

18:40

will refer that young person, I

18:40

will chase up that referral,

18:44

because what tends to happen is

18:44

a young person can be referred

18:47

or they refer themselves. And

18:47

you know, they never hear from

18:50

the Mental Health Services or

18:50

there's a longer wait. So we we

18:54

are there to facilitate to

18:54

ensure that they are seen in

18:56

good time. And I've heard that

18:56

there has been quite response

19:00

with like the young people that

19:00

have been seen, they've been

19:03

able to access their therapy,

19:03

whatever it is that they needed

19:07

in that point in time. So I

19:07

think it's really just a case of

19:12

with young people is to have to

19:12

seek advocacy in any situation,

19:17

you know, we've got mental

19:17

health advisors, we've got the

19:19

health team within centerpoint,

19:19

or even just being able to

19:23

seeking mental health advocacy

19:23

in your community so that you're

19:26

aware of your rights to you

19:26

know, mental health services,

19:30

your rights to medical review.

19:30

So it's really, I do encourage

19:35

young people to find out what's

19:35

in their community and to also

19:40

seek help in regard in regards

19:40

to knowing more about what they

19:45

can access what the timeline is,

19:45

because it does, it does

19:49

differentiate, so I can't really

19:49

give an accurate answer in that

19:52

but I hope that has kind of

19:52

helped in with your answer in

19:56

just just finding out a bit more

19:56

about it. Yeah.

20:00

So I completely agree. I've been

20:00

struggling since I was eight

20:04

years old. And part of the

20:04

reason I became homeless was

20:07

because of poor mental health.

20:07

And basically, because I have

20:11

dual diagnosis and substance

20:11

problems, you just passed

20:15

around, I've literally been

20:15

having this for like five or six

20:19

years, where they say to me,

20:19

Well, you've got an eating

20:22

disorder, but we can't touch you

20:22

unless you stop drinking, and

20:25

then you self harming. So I got

20:25

put on the intensive home

20:28

treatment team, after being

20:28

very, very, very poorly. And

20:34

it's really difficult because

20:34

I've been in five psychiatric

20:38

units, from the age of 15, to

20:38

the age of 28. Basically, no

20:45

one, no one knows where to put

20:45

you. So you know, I've got

20:48

personality problems, I've got

20:48

addiction problems, and I've

20:51

also got an eating disorder. But

20:51

if you don't fit into a little

20:54

box, they won't treat you so you

20:54

just boomerang they call it

20:58

being Boomerang, from assessment

20:58

to assessment, without getting

21:01

any support. And then when you

21:01

live in, in precarious housing,

21:05

you know, and it's damaging, you

21:05

are just left, you're just seen

21:09

as a problem until you get to

21:09

the absolute crisis point. And

21:12

then they will intervene. So I

21:12

was meant to only be seen by the

21:15

home treatment team, I think

21:15

he's up to a month. And they

21:18

ended up seeing me for four

21:18

months. And now I need them

21:21

back. But I'll have to go

21:21

through a&e again to get back,

21:24

get them back. Which it's just a

21:24

nightmare, an absolute

21:28

nightmare. And yeah, if you've

21:28

got your diagnosis, it's just

21:32

hell on earth. There is not

21:32

nothing there. Oh, yeah. And

21:35

unless you can, you know, afford

21:35

to do it privately. Which we

21:39

can't afford, then, you know, I

21:39

feel very, very stuck. And I

21:43

feel very, very lost within it

21:43

all.

21:45

Because I come back on what

21:45

Catherine just said, you're

21:48

talking to her about something

21:48

that's really real for us,

21:50

because somebody's you know,

21:50

drinking, or smoking weed. So I

21:55

would think about that. And

21:55

that's somebody self medicating,

21:58

you self medicate, because you

21:58

haven't got a better mechanism

22:02

of coping with whatever it is,

22:02

that's just intolerable. So the

22:06

idea that one can kind of access

22:06

therapy after one's finished

22:11

kind of smoking a bit of weed or

22:11

whatever it is, it's, you know,

22:15

kind of, for me, it's a kind of,

22:15

it's kind of absurd, because you

22:18

kind of the two things progress

22:18

hand in hand, hopefully, the

22:23

opportunity to speak and talk

22:23

we'll get we'll shift things

22:27

enough, that one becomes able to

22:27

manage without needing to numb

22:32

the pain with weed or drink. So

22:32

the idea that one can kind of

22:36

already can't come to us until

22:36

you've stopped drinking is just

22:40

ridiculous. And also to pick up

22:40

on some of the stuff that Eve

22:43

was talking about. For me in my

22:43

work at Centerpoint. It's not

22:47

even I turned to her to one of

22:47

her colleagues is the Mental

22:50

Health Advisor for replacement

22:50

Barnet where I work, but like

22:53

the being able to turn and say,

22:53

Okay, so I've got this young

22:56

person worked at this. They're

22:56

in therapy, though, it's kind of

22:59

going okay, but they've got this

22:59

more acute kind of presentation.

23:03

And having somebody that can

23:03

help the young person basically

23:08

get statutory services to do

23:08

what it is they're supposed to

23:11

do. That's just, that's just

23:11

invaluable. And again, I think

23:15

kind of illuminates what you

23:15

were talking about Katherine,

23:17

which is this kind of, it's not

23:17

just one thing, it's not just

23:21

one sort of relatively

23:21

straightforward, although very

23:24

serious thing, it's tends to be

23:24

with any of us, there's a whole,

23:28

a whole range of things that

23:28

we're trying to deal with, and

23:31

they they coexist, they don't

23:31

exist in isolation. That's just,

23:36

I don't know, it's just you, you

23:36

spoke very powerfully about it.

23:38

And I wanted to give I know,

23:38

it's how I was speaking sounds

23:40

kind of quite reasonable. But I

23:40

wanted to give a kind of a

23:43

feedback from my professional

23:43

perspective of being in the room

23:48

with people and what they're dealing with. And I also want to just add, I

23:50

think what I'm seeing is

23:53

happening is that the police

23:53

service and the ambulance

23:56

service are coming first. And,

23:56

you know, social workers,

24:00

because their mental health

24:00

system is so dire, that now that

24:04

they're coming up to more mental

24:04

health crisis, and that's not

24:07

their job. It's not their job to

24:07

be social workers. You know, I

24:10

have the ambulance service

24:10

turning up nearly every week,

24:13

and the terrible because it

24:13

could because I'm not getting

24:15

the right support. So we need to

24:15

really be looking at that as

24:18

well. I think I will just get out to two

24:20

points, sort of, from what

24:22

Katherine just said about the

24:22

police service in particular,

24:26

working around, you know, like

24:26

people mental health or anything

24:28

like that, the faster you know,

24:28

the police are now being brought

24:33

out even more is not only

24:33

concerning, but it shouldn't be

24:38

the case because end of the day,

24:38

there should be more support for

24:41

people who may be having those

24:41

suicidal tendencies. I mean,

24:44

even I've had suicidal

24:44

tendencies in the past like I am

24:47

willing to admit that I have

24:47

tried to kill myself multiple

24:49

times because of you know, like

24:49

different reasons. I did go

24:53

towards cancer drugs. For a time

24:53

when I was back at university.

24:57

I'm completely clean now. I've

24:57

been clean since before I gave

24:59

up Senator points around about

24:59

1819. And I'm 23. Now, so I've

25:04

been clean since then, there is

25:04

just a big need for more

25:07

support, not only from, you

25:07

know, like mental health

25:10

experts, but yeah, everyone

25:10

should be helping everyone to

25:13

get through what they need to get through 100% agree with that, Morgan,

25:14

there definitely needs to be

25:20

more support structure in place

25:20

to help people. Just on the

25:25

practical side of things, I know

25:25

that I, myself, and even friends

25:31

of mine that I know, have tried

25:31

multiple times over the last

25:35

four or five years to get some

25:35

counselling and help and support

25:39

with mental health struggles and

25:39

difficulties such as anxiety and

25:45

depression, which does seem to

25:45

be one of the most common

25:49

problems that I've come across.

25:49

And the waiting time can be

25:54

months, even up to years. And

25:54

I'm, as far as I'm aware,

26:00

depending on what your

26:00

circumstances, the only amount

26:05

of sessions that the NHS can

26:05

offer you is around 12. And

26:09

that's at the absolute maximum,

26:09

and that's pressing nurses and

26:13

doctors, you know, and

26:13

professionals, that that's

26:17

really pressing them, because

26:17

they are just overwhelmed with

26:21

the amount of people that

26:21

they're seeing quite clearly if

26:23

the wait time is that long. And

26:23

you are going through really,

26:28

really difficult, you know,

26:28

emotional, and you know, it's

26:32

just really not a nice place to

26:32

be in and you you deserve to

26:37

have that support there. So

26:37

yeah, 110%, we need more support

26:44

structures put in place to help

26:44

people.

26:47

Yeah, I wanted to say something

26:47

in response to what Morgan was

26:49

saying, because I, I very much

26:49

don't like some, I think some

26:55

mental health professionals,

26:55

they kind of like to present

26:58

themselves as though they are

26:58

fine, and don't have any

27:02

problems. And I have a

27:02

particular ideological hostility

27:05

to that position. So like in

27:05

terms of looking after my well

27:10

being, so I have a thing called

27:10

supervision. We talk about it

27:15

when we're contracting with

27:15

young people to enter into

27:18

therapy, that's where I will

27:18

talk about my case is in a

27:22

confidential setting, same

27:22

confidentiality principles apply

27:25

as applied to the actual work

27:25

itself. Part of that is to make

27:29

sure that I am well enough to be

27:29

working in it, how I'm thinking,

27:34

the kind of psychological

27:34

thinking I'm doing about my

27:36

cases is appropriate. But

27:36

equally, if, you know, if I, if

27:41

I was aware of myself, in some

27:41

way struggling with something

27:46

feeling overwhelmed or sort of

27:46

really struggling to keep going,

27:49

I would resort to personal

27:49

therapy again. And what the

27:54

other thing I wanted to say to

27:54

pick up on that is I'm aware I

27:57

can afford that. And that

27:57

relates to something else, which

28:01

is to say that I'm in I'm aware

28:01

I'm I'm relatively old, I'm

28:06

white, I'm male, I'm middle

28:06

class, by education, and now

28:10

income, it's not my background,

28:10

but that's where I am now. And

28:14

that gets me a level and that

28:14

gives me access to resources

28:19

through my own means. And also a

28:19

level of response from let's

28:23

just use the word be authorities

28:23

that I'm painfully aware isn't

28:27

the same for all of you,

28:27

including some of my colleagues

28:30

because of race because of class

28:30

because of identity etc. And I

28:35

just thought I just wanted to

28:35

say that because that that kind

28:38

of I tried to have that

28:38

awareness and try to make that

28:41

awareness part of how I work.

28:41

And I think my experience as

28:45

somebody who's been through a

28:45

therapy training, so encountered

28:49

lots of people who are training

28:49

with me, and people at the

28:51

institute, but also, as somebody

28:51

who has been in therapy, it's,

28:58

it's quite common, I think, to

28:58

encounter a presentation by a

29:02

therapist, that kind of gives

29:02

you a sense well, that

29:04

everything is just absolutely

29:04

fine with them. They are never

29:08

troubled by anything. And so one

29:08

of the things I try and do in

29:12

the work is when it's tough,

29:12

when it's tough, when what the

29:15

what my client is bringing is is

29:15

difficult, it's painful, and

29:19

it's hard to make sense of I

29:19

share that with them. I'm I'm

29:24

transparent about the fact that

29:24

this is difficult to to think

29:28

about in the moment. Not quite,

29:28

I'm not quite sure how super

29:32

articulate that or was that

29:32

something I often say about my

29:36

own contributions to

29:36

conversations, but I hope I'm

29:39

managing to convey something

29:39

that's really important for me

29:43

in terms of kind of ethos and

29:43

values, an ethical position that

29:49

I tried to take as a practitioner. I mean, just respond to that. I

29:52

do find it rather ironic. You

29:56

say that because I will admit

29:56

that I did too used to I guess

30:01

as I'm sure you've probably

30:01

refer to masking my emotions,

30:04

or, you know, like my issues, I

30:04

know a lot of people do it is

30:08

quite a common thing that people

30:08

do. Because people find it

30:11

naturally hard to to actually

30:11

come forward and admit they have

30:14

an issue. But end of the day,

30:14

like, if you're gonna keep on

30:19

hiding behind a mask, nothing's

30:19

gonna get better for you. You

30:24

do. I mean, as hard as it is,

30:24

you do need to push yourself

30:28

forward. Like I said, earlier,

30:28

therapists, not the thing that

30:31

just find your own, you know,

30:31

like, method of, quote, unquote,

30:35

coping, I guess. I don't usually

30:35

like saying coping, because

30:41

yeah, you shouldn't have to go

30:41

through what you have to go

30:44

through. Maybe a better word.

30:48

Yeah. Yeah, thank you for that. And what you said

30:48

about push yourself, but that's

30:51

exactly what I had to do. I

30:51

spent, you know, I spent years

30:54

living much reduced life than I

30:54

needed to because it didn't push

30:58

myself to make the internal

30:58

changes that I needed to make.

31:01

So really, that phrase you used

31:01

I really recognise?

31:04

Yeah, well, that's the thing.

31:04

Like when I first presented this

31:07

homeless, I never would have

31:07

expected myself to get into that

31:11

situation anywhere I like, I

31:11

will admit that I did come from

31:15

a good background, I had a

31:15

beautiful family home, an

31:18

amazing family. And I will

31:18

admit, I did throw that away

31:21

because of you know, like, the

31:21

stuff that was going on in my

31:23

head. And the way that I handled

31:23

it back then, I did kind of push

31:27

people away to the point where,

31:27

you know, we did have a family

31:30

breakdown, and I've moved on

31:30

with my life, to the point where

31:33

now I am trying to not only fix

31:33

my life, but help other people,

31:37

I guess, fix theirs. But you

31:37

know, like as a bigger picture,

31:42

you know, like doing stuff with

31:42

mental health, with Universal

31:45

Credit, and so on. But the other

31:45

reason why I do that, it's not

31:49

just because I have a passion

31:49

now for helping people. But it's

31:52

also helping myself because it's

31:52

making me more confident as a

31:55

person. And making me you know,

31:55

like kind of evolve into not

32:00

only just a better human being,

32:00

but a lot more stable as a

32:03

person. And that's what I always

32:03

wanted for myself, I wanted to

32:07

make sure that I was you know,

32:07

like, fine in a future of myself

32:11

that I'm happy with, that

32:11

there's so many different things

32:15

that go on, not only in our

32:15

minds, but you know, like around

32:18

us. The podcast from centre by young

32:20

people, for all people.

32:27

I have actually gotten a few

32:27

things that I've written down

32:31

here that I wanted to tell you

32:31

about today, that might help you

32:39

when you're going through a very

32:39

difficult time where you're

32:42

struggling, because they've

32:42

helped me and I know that they

32:47

have also helped some other

32:47

people that I have taught my

32:50

moving up was programme. So I

32:50

have three different things

32:55

here. The first one is do check

32:55

in with your body and make sure

32:59

that you are listening to it's

32:59

physical needs. Obviously, this

33:03

is going to be difficult for you

33:03

know, someone that might be

33:08

struggling with an eating

33:08

disorder, or insomnia, or self

33:13

harm or those kinds of things.

33:13

But I have written here, do try

33:18

and eat some nourishing food.

33:18

Drink as much water as you can

33:24

to keep your mind hydrated, and

33:24

so that you're not coming even

33:29

more irritable. And make sure

33:29

that you are getting enough

33:34

sleep, stay away from your

33:34

phone, if you know that it gives

33:38

you anxiety, and trying to

33:38

practice being compassionate

33:43

towards yourself. Just give

33:43

yourself a bit of a break. I

33:47

know it's easier said than done.

33:47

But a 15 minute daily yoga

33:51

practice or meditation, or just

33:51

even reading a book to like get

33:56

your mind out of its current

33:56

overactive engagement can

34:02

actually really do the world of

34:02

wonders. Sometimes you really

34:05

just want your mind to get lost

34:05

in something else and not

34:08

wrapped up in your own thought

34:08

so much. So yeah, just picking

34:12

up that book as hard as it might

34:12

be, can really help to shift

34:19

your perspective. It's not good

34:19

to keep all of your emotions

34:23

bottled up, which is why we're

34:23

spending so much time you know,

34:27

talking about talking to people.

34:27

It's because when you keep your

34:31

emotions bottled up inside, it

34:31

just makes you feel even worse.

34:37

So really, if you have a friend

34:37

that you can call that, you

34:42

know, won't judge you who can

34:42

help, you know, create a safe

34:45

space for you to just talk a

34:45

little bit about how do you feel

34:49

can really, really do well and

34:49

good. And finally, I just also

34:55

want to say see that you're not

34:55

alone in this and as hard as it

35:00

can be, to see a light at the

35:00

end of the tunnel, sometimes

35:05

just the comfort of knowing that

35:05

you're not alone. And there will

35:09

always be people that have been

35:09

through similar and even worse

35:13

situations and what you have.

35:13

And that can be quite inspiring

35:18

shift in perspective to help us

35:18

continue,

35:21

I just want to make a point as

35:21

well, right? This isn't against

35:24

anyone, but I think it's really,

35:24

really hard to practice

35:27

meditation or, you know, doing

35:27

things like that, when you've

35:30

got your neighbour screaming at

35:30

you, and you've got, you know,

35:32

like, you don't have a safe

35:32

environment like I owe, you

35:37

don't have open spaces to go for

35:37

a walk, or you're terrified to

35:40

go out. You know, I find that

35:40

really, really challenging. And,

35:44

you know, like what you said about, you know, having an eating disorder, it's really

35:46

hard to eat nourishing food and

35:49

have art show what if you've got

35:49

no money to go on? And you can't

35:52

afford to? So I agree, I think

35:52

that there is a hierarchy in

36:00

mental well being that if people

36:00

have got, you know, if they've

36:03

got that space to go to the gym,

36:03

or they've got that space to buy

36:06

nourishing food, but what about

36:06

the people that don't, if that

36:09

makes sense that it's really,

36:09

really hard, you know, to have,

36:14

like this kind of toolbox or

36:14

well being when you live in you

36:17

just trying to survive? Yeah, I really appreciate that.

36:20

Catherine, I just I do want to,

36:26

I do want to mention, I actually

36:26

had a suffered from an eating

36:29

disorder for around five years,

36:29

from the age of like, 15, to

36:38

about 20, and actually self

36:38

medicated with weed to help me

36:44

overcome that eating disorder.

36:44

And, you know, when I was

36:48

throughout my time that I was

36:48

living in centerpoint, I

36:52

absolutely had no one. I

36:52

literally had no one I had to

36:56

work from the ground up to kind

36:56

of get myself where I am today.

37:02

And, you know, I even at one

37:02

point was subjected to just some

37:08

really ridiculous things to make

37:08

money so that I could eat, I do

37:14

actually have the genuine sense

37:14

of appreciation of how hard it

37:18

is. I want to offer my number in

37:18

the chat to you. If you do ever

37:24

want to chat at some point. That'd be amazing. vancare

37:27

Because I'm really interested in

37:30

you know, what you're doing. And

37:30

I think it can be really helpful

37:33

for me at the moment, because

37:33

I'm going through quite a lot

37:35

here. Thank you. You're very welcome.

37:41

The podcast from centre by young

37:41

people, for all people.

37:48

I'm just going to share a coping

37:48

Amin? Well, you call it managing

37:51

strategies that I do for to help

37:51

me to manage my mental health

37:57

crisis. Yeah, so what I do some

37:57

times most of the day, and then

38:02

of the day, I do journaling or

38:02

writing what I've done to the

38:06

day. And I'll try to think what

38:06

are the things that may kind of

38:12

make me made my day, for

38:12

example, someone opened the door

38:16

for me or someone made a coffee.

38:16

So like, for at the end of the

38:21

day, we always need to think

38:21

about before we sleep, do

38:25

things, just two things that

38:25

kind of like made our day. So it

38:29

could help us to like, this kind

38:29

of like helped me to appreciate

38:34

the day that I've had. Because

38:34

everyday is kind of struggle for

38:38

me. So I'm trying to survive for

38:38

every day. And those are the

38:41

things that kind of helped me to

38:41

push through my day again,

38:45

tomorrow. Yeah. Also, by

38:45

journaling, you will know what

38:50

are your struggles. So from that

38:50

thing, you can know where to

38:57

maybe one day know how to manage

38:57

it. And because you written for

39:03

this, like sometimes when we

39:03

feel something we don't write or

39:07

record, what we feel, we kind of

39:07

like, kind of sense of like

39:12

forgetting what we feel. And

39:12

it's very important for us to

39:16

acknowledge our feelings. Also

39:16

the time because, yeah, as

39:22

Morgan said, a while ago, it's

39:22

very hard to like bottled up

39:27

things and it's kind of like our

39:27

journaling is one of the things

39:32

that helped me and the other

39:32

thing is also when sometimes

39:36

when we don't feel like doing

39:36

something, there's a rule for me

39:42

like a 10 minutes. Rule. When I

39:42

do something, for example,

39:47

household chores, folding

39:47

clothes, if you don't feel like

39:50

doing it, because you're feeling

39:50

down or something like want to

39:54

do your assignment or something

39:54

from where I'll do 10 minutes

39:58

rule. I'll do that with you. In

39:58

the 10 minutes, if we then

40:03

within that 10 minutes, it kind

40:03

of helped me to do to do the

40:06

things that I wanted to do at

40:06

the end of the day. So like, you

40:10

know, you don't feel like

40:10

worthless while having this

40:15

crisis. Yeah, those are the

40:15

things that kind of helped me.

40:21

On my mental health struggles,

40:23

I realised quite early that it

40:23

was all down to me, if I wanted

40:27

to really make a change, it was

40:27

all up to me to even make that

40:31

change happen. Whether was me

40:31

what like Kevin said, you know,

40:35

getting up in the morning, I

40:35

have a similar role to Kevin,

40:39

but mine is not 10 minutes fine

40:39

is, if I'm not feeling to do

40:42

something today, I make sure I

40:42

do do that. No matter what,

40:46

because the next time that comes

40:46

up again, I'm not going to have

40:50

the issue anymore. And it's

40:50

always been like that, and I

40:53

forced myself to do that. But

40:53

end of the day, we have to

40:57

realise that it's all down to

40:57

our decisions, like, there's

41:01

only so much someone can do to

41:01

help you. They can give you all

41:05

the good advice, they can show

41:05

you methods and show you ways.

41:09

But if you don't act on it, or

41:09

if you don't take steps towards

41:13

those, those goals, you're not

41:13

going to achieve it, you're not

41:16

going to make any change of

41:16

yourself. And we live in a world

41:19

where we want to get things done

41:19

quick, we want to get it

41:22

instantly. And it's okay to

41:22

sometimes just slow down and

41:27

take a break. It's okay to just

41:27

take small steps, we can't take

41:31

big steps and expect a big

41:31

result, what I'm doing today, I

41:35

wanted to do this five years

41:35

ago, but I realised that life

41:40

doesn't work in my time, I have

41:40

to work on how life works in its

41:44

own time. So what I wanted to do

41:44

today, I wanted to be doing that

41:48

five years ago. But that never

41:48

happened. Because I wasn't

41:51

ready. I was in a completely

41:51

different state, my mental

41:54

health was an okay. But it took

41:54

me five years to get to where I

41:58

am today. And it's for a reason

41:58

to be able to now have this

42:01

knowledge to share to others. So

42:01

whatever happens in your life,

42:06

you got to kind of look at it in

42:06

a way that it's moulding you

42:10

into someone that you don't even

42:10

know yet. It's going to make you

42:14

become someone that it's better

42:14

than what you had envisioned for

42:18

yourself. And life works that

42:18

way. It's funny, you meet

42:21

certain people in your life for

42:21

a reason. They teach you some

42:25

bad stuffs, they teach you some

42:25

good stuff. But all in it, it's

42:29

a lesson. And sometimes when you

42:29

try to change your mindset,

42:33

where it's your mental health,

42:33

any coping strategies, it's all

42:37

down to how you think it's all

42:37

down to the actions that you

42:40

take. Start by taking small

42:40

steps writing, reading helped me

42:44

a lot. You know, I wrote my

42:44

first book, it was a journal

42:46

like given it then it became a

42:46

book because I wrote so much

42:51

poetry helped me express myself,

42:51

sometimes couldn't put my

42:56

thoughts into words. But poetry

42:56

helped me do that, which I

42:59

included in my book. And it's

42:59

just things like, finding ways

43:03

to really just express yourself

43:03

and speak your mind sometimes

43:08

can really help. And just

43:08

knowing what you want to do

43:12

every single day and take it one

43:12

day at a time. There's no rush.

43:16

So that's my point. I hope that

43:16

wasn't too long. But yeah,

43:21

moving on, I want to just go

43:21

around and just ask the

43:26

panellists and everyone, if they

43:26

had any other coping mechanism

43:31

that has helped them with their

43:31

mental health, that someone

43:33

could be listening to this

43:33

podcast, and he could help them

43:36

are really, really good. So

43:36

yeah, let's start with Morgan.

43:43

You've got any coping mechanism.

43:45

So I don't necessarily do this

43:45

anymore. But I used to do a lot

43:51

of freelance art. I used to take

43:51

commissions, like for

43:56

illustrations, animated

43:56

characters, or just general, you

44:00

know, like, original characters

44:00

that people may have created and

44:03

wanted to, like, bring to life.

44:03

So I used to deal with that as,

44:07

like a bit of a coping mechanism

44:07

to help me you know, like, take

44:10

my mind off stuff. I'm not as

44:10

passionate as I used to be now

44:13

because I've just kind of like,

44:13

lost my touch or you know, like

44:17

just lost interest mainly

44:17

because I used to procrastinate

44:20

a little bit too much. But I do

44:20

know that from past experience,

44:24

it is a really good way to help

44:24

take your mind off stuff. If not

44:27

that I will recommend just

44:27

listening to whatever music

44:30

you're most interested in. You

44:30

know, like from heavy metal to

44:33

maybe a bit of smooth jazz. I

44:33

will personally recommend

44:37

there's a singer that I know and

44:37

love called Giorgio, he's a half

44:41

Australian half Japanese

44:41

actually YouTuber funny enough.

44:45

He used to do a lot of YouTube

44:45

but he went into music and

44:48

funnily enough, he mainly went

44:48

into music because he was

44:50

dealing with a lot of anxiety

44:50

and depression because of the

44:53

sort of YouTube content he used

44:53

to do it basically hospitalised

44:56

himself because of you know,

44:56

like the amount of stress that

44:59

he was going through Are you

44:59

actually looking for good music

45:01

recommendations? I'd recommend

45:01

him because his music is a very

45:05

relaxing, especially if you're

45:05

trying to you know, fall asleep

45:09

at night. So, yeah, music or

45:09

art, definitely try it out.

45:13

Ya know, I'm an anime fan as

45:13

well. So anime definitely helped

45:17

me as well. Yeah, let's go to

45:17

Kevin. Any coping strategies

45:22

you've got Kevin? Yes. So as Morgan said, music

45:24

helped me a lot. Since when I

45:29

was young. So it's music has

45:29

been there for me, my whole

45:33

life. Like, if I've got no one

45:33

to talk to listen to different

45:37

kinds of music that kind of

45:37

like, rustling it's about my

45:40

feeling. You know, it's kind of

45:40

like you want to feel something

45:43

good. You're going to good.

45:43

Listen to something that kind of

45:48

make you feel good. Like put

45:48

something in your mind that kind

45:51

of like when you put something

45:51

in your body like a good food,

45:54

it's going to make you feel good

45:54

as the same thing. Yeah, so

45:57

music. Yeah, kind of be my

45:57

passion. Helps me even writing

46:03

songs. Yeah, I also want to

46:03

share one fact. I also happen to

46:10

join X factor in the year 2017.

46:10

In the UK? Yeah. Probably. I

46:15

didn't do well in there. But

46:15

yeah, so yeah, music helped me a

46:20

lot with my coping mechanism

46:20

mechanism. As I'm saying it's

46:26

accessible nowadays. It's

46:26

online. Or maybe you can

46:29

download stuff. Yeah, so Music

46:29

is my life.

46:34

A while? I didn't know you

46:34

actually went to us. Great.

46:39

Yeah, let's go to Catherine.

46:39

Catherine got any coping

46:44

mechanism that you would like to share? I don't really know. Because all

46:46

my coping mechanism seems to be

46:49

quite destructive. But no, to be

46:49

fair, I have a massive thing

46:54

about punk music, and metal

46:54

music. And so yeah, I'm a bit

46:59

alternative and getting tattoos.

46:59

Every night, I'll listen to an

47:03

audiobook, and you can get them

47:03

free. So that seems to weigh me

47:07

down. And also just, you know,

47:07

doing the work that I do, you

47:11

know, we're JRF and Senate

47:11

appoint. And, you know, that is

47:16

what I'm passionate about that.

47:16

Yeah. Okay. I've got real

47:19

difficulties. And life is

47:19

really, really hard at the

47:22

moment. But I'm still turning up

47:22

to meetings. And I'm still

47:25

trying. And I do think that, you

47:25

know, in the future, there were,

47:28

there is a, there is a future.

47:28

I've actually got a Banksy

47:32

tattoo, which is the girl in the

47:32

balloon, and it means there's

47:34

always hope. And so even

47:34

through, you know, the darkest

47:38

times I've ever been through

47:38

homelessness in psychiatric

47:41

wards, that there is always

47:41

something and that's what keeps

47:45

me bringing me back. I've lost a

47:45

lot of friends in the past five

47:50

years to suicide, and to, you

47:50

know, really complex mental

47:54

health problem. And, you know, I

47:54

kind of think of them and I go

47:57

on it, I'm doing it for you guys

47:57

as well, not just myself. So

48:02

yeah, I think it through, you

48:02

know, all the bad things you can

48:06

find. You can find really,

48:06

really lovely people. And I

48:09

think it can be quite hard when

48:09

you're so up against everything.

48:12

But there are people that really

48:12

do care. I could never work in

48:16

an office, let's just put it

48:16

like that. So I'm hoping one day

48:21

I'll be able to set me on Cherry

48:21

Oh, do do something like that.

48:24

But yeah, you've got to do it

48:24

keep going forward for people

48:28

who don't have a voice who do

48:28

have this platform that needs to

48:31

errors. Because we're important,

48:31

and we are expert by experience.

48:36

So yeah. Well, I love that point. Thank

48:37

you, Catherine, for sharing.

48:40

Finally, from Steven and Eve.

48:40

Let's start with Eve.

48:45

Um, so for me, I think, like I

48:45

mentioned, you know, anxiety is

48:52

something that I still

48:52

experience. It's something that

48:56

it's gotten better over the

48:56

years because mine used to be so

49:00

bad, where I used to have panic

49:00

attacks until I faint. So one of

49:05

the things that I would say that

49:05

has really worked well for me,

49:09

is personal development. And,

49:09

you know, we work with young

49:15

people, and I think this would

49:15

kind of help, especially the the

49:19

age gap 16 to 25. You know,

49:19

that's the time where you're,

49:23

you've got low self esteem, you

49:23

know, your confidence is low.

49:27

One of the things that worked

49:27

for me, is, you know, learning

49:32

about myself learning about my

49:32

identity, because they say

49:35

there's power in knowing who you

49:35

are. And through learning about

49:40

what I want to do and things

49:40

that I'm passionate about. I

49:44

became confident in those

49:44

things. They do say that, you

49:48

know, Confidence comes with

49:48

competence. So, the more

49:52

competent I became in certain

49:52

things, the more confident I

49:56

felt about myself, the more

49:56

happiness I started to feel or

50:00

the more fulfilled I began to

50:00

fill. So that is why I go back

50:05

in saying, take each day as it

50:05

comes, take one step at a time,

50:11

find out who you are, find out

50:11

what, what you want to do. And

50:16

the most important thing is to

50:16

remember that one thing that

50:20

from all these stories, I want

50:20

to say something and what you're

50:24

going through is not about you,

50:24

I am in this position where I'm

50:28

helping young people, because I

50:28

helped, because I've been

50:31

through that. Katherine, you

50:31

mentioned that you, you know,

50:35

you want to do something around

50:35

that you want to be able to help

50:38

people that have gone through

50:38

what you're going through. So

50:41

you know, and also, I think,

50:41

Maytag mentioned that he

50:45

mentioned in regards to we what

50:45

we have been through, we are now

50:51

you know, it's something bigger

50:51

than us. So we have to remember

50:55

that, you know, there's always a

50:55

positive thing that comes out of

50:59

all the struggles that we go

50:59

through. And one day that

51:03

someone, somewhere is going to

51:03

want to hear your story, so that

51:08

they can go get through whatever

51:08

it is that they're going

51:11

through. Just wanted to say just

51:11

thank you to the panellists that

51:15

have been just brave enough to

51:15

just come out with their

51:19

stories, there is one thing that

51:19

I want to highlight. And I

51:22

think, because we hear things

51:22

like, psychiatrist we hear

51:27

mental health advisors, we hear

51:27

therapists, you have to remember

51:32

that you are the expert of your

51:32

life, I am not the expert, the

51:37

doctors are not the expert. You

51:37

know, what it is that you know,

51:42

is for you, every individual is

51:42

different. You know, it's about

51:46

learning who you are learning

51:46

what works for you. Because what

51:51

works for you might not work for

51:51

Sally might not work for Tom.

51:55

And that is why even in our

51:55

room, we don't tell the young

52:00

person, you know, this is what

52:00

you know, you have to do, will

52:04

make suggestions will make

52:04

recommendations will help the

52:07

young person through whatever

52:07

they're going through. But

52:10

really it's looking at, that's

52:10

why we do the assessment, we

52:13

cater to the needs of the young

52:13

person, what it is that they're

52:17

going through as an individual.

52:17

So I just wanted to encourage

52:20

you and to just remind you that

52:20

it's about what works for you

52:24

and your mental health, whether

52:24

you've got poor mental health,

52:28

it does not define you, it does

52:28

not define where you're going in

52:32

life, you can recover from it.

52:32

And it's all about taking that

52:37

first step to just acknowledging

52:37

first of all, that, yes, I am

52:41

going through something, and I

52:41

need to deal with it. Because

52:45

the longer that you do live and

52:45

you know you do suffer in

52:49

silence, the harder it will be

52:49

for you to come out of it. So

52:53

it's just taking that one step

52:53

at a time and really just

52:56

admitting, first of all

52:56

embracing the journey that

52:59

you're on. And there is no shame

52:59

in whatever it is that you're

53:03

going through. We all go through

53:03

that there is no shame in that.

53:07

Thank you, you've Steven,

53:10

we'll pick up right where you've

53:10

left off. Thanks very much for

53:14

inviting me to be a part of

53:14

this. I want to kind of I picked

53:18

some people who normally when I

53:18

do this, I'm gonna say something

53:21

in square brackets. I like to

53:21

cheat like that. I wanted to say

53:24

a couple of pick up a couple of

53:24

things that were said earlier

53:26

that Eve said, You're the

53:26

expert. And it's it's almost

53:31

like a cliche, but it's true.

53:31

There's nothing what I do, what

53:34

I bring to my work in the room

53:34

is just a way of thinking, a way

53:39

of thinking about what people

53:39

are saying to me. It's not I

53:44

don't have it, there's nothing

53:44

magic about it. And I don't have

53:46

the answers. It's about helping

53:46

somebody figure out what's going

53:49

on, in their own mind. And when

53:49

I use the word mind, it's not a

53:53

kind of abstract intellectual

53:53

thing. It's it's all of us, we

53:57

are our minds. And that's a

53:57

we're an embodied mind, our

54:00

feelings, our bodily sensations,

54:00

our thoughts, everything. So I

54:04

kinda just wanted to pick up that because it was really important. And that was my

54:06

experience in therapy. That was

54:09

all the stuff that I was working

54:09

very, very hard, not knowing

54:12

about myself making life

54:12

difficult. And the thing I think

54:16

I do, helps me feel better. And

54:16

I notice the difference when I

54:20

don't do it. And that's like

54:20

Teddy are not super diligent

54:24

about it. I meditate, I'm not

54:24

very good at it. I can't do it

54:28

for very long, my mind wanders

54:28

all over the place. But

54:31

generally speaking, I feel

54:31

better when I'm meditating each

54:35

day, even if it's only like 10

54:35

minutes or so. So that's the

54:39

kind of thing that I do that

54:39

would call you know, kind of a

54:43

coping or managing strategy or

54:43

something that's just helped me

54:46

feel a bit better. But and also

54:46

if I can just say one more thing

54:50

I really that thing about

54:50

competence. And think what a way

54:54

of thinking about the problems I

54:54

had to overcome or at least some

54:57

of them I was just wasn't very

54:57

competent with other people.

55:00

We're social beings, it's we are

55:00

social animals, we often have

55:04

fantasies about being very

55:04

individualistic. And I think

55:07

that's a kind of a defence

55:07

mechanism. We're social animals.

55:11

We're in a world with other

55:11

people, and our difficulties,

55:15

whatever they are, they're a

55:15

function somehow of how we

55:18

interact with those other

55:18

people. I my training, this is

55:23

used, this is relevant. I'm

55:23

trained as a couple and an

55:25

individual psychotherapist. So

55:25

part of my training is

55:28

specifically thinking about

55:28

what's going on between any two

55:32

people, it's always 5050.

55:32

There's something where we can't

55:35

just go, oh, it's all that other

55:35

person's fault. If they just

55:38

stopped doing X, Y, and Zed,

55:38

everything will be fine. Always

55:41

have to think about what I'm

55:41

bringing to the party. So I

55:45

don't know. That's where I'll

55:45

end. I know, there's a kind of

55:48

ongoing dialogue about is there

55:48

going to be part two? You know,

55:52

I think it's been very rich.

55:52

It's been very helpful for me.

55:56

I've really enjoyed it. And I've

55:56

got a lot of quite a that will

56:00

be very valuable. But thanks

56:00

very much. I enjoyed myself.

56:03

That's not something I say trivially. Thank you, Steven. Yeah, well,

56:06

this has been like a really

56:10

great episode. It's been very

56:10

helpful. And I just want to

56:14

thank the panellists for joining

56:14

us and given their input on

56:18

everything and asking these

56:18

amazing questions, and also to

56:22

our guests, even Steven to for

56:22

sharing their expert advice. And

56:30

their experience and their

56:30

thoughts, which was very helpful

56:33

helped me a lot. Get a clearer

56:33

picture. And I also hope it has

56:38

helped everyone that's listening

56:38

right now to this episode. And

56:43

yeah, please, please share the

56:43

episode. It's on Spotify. It's

56:47

on Apple podcast, to anyone that

56:47

you know, and we'll be doing,

56:53

hopefully more episodes like

56:53

this on point made, and

56:57

hopefully we can have special

56:57

guests that put their input. And

57:02

if you have any questions do

57:02

reach out to support team, which

57:06

we will be glad to answer any

57:06

questions on the podcast. I want

57:10

to also thank Harry Speight for

57:10

soundtracks and music.

57:15

If you want more information,

57:15

then visit our blog at

57:18

www.centerpointe.org/blog. Don't

57:18

forget Centerpointe offers free

57:25

advice via the centerpoint

57:25

helpline to anyone aged 16 to

57:31

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57:31

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57:38

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57:38

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57:48

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57:48

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57:51

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57:51

homelessness slash get help now.

58:02

If you've been affected

58:02

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58:04

podcast and you need someone to

58:04

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58:08

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58:08

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