A new series of online events, aimed at promoting support and awarness for mental health issues is starting today at 6pm.
Set up by Bedfordian, Yolanda Copes-Stepney, the series is designed to help tackle the ways modern life can have a negative impact on our mental well-being.
“2020 is stressful and you or your loved ones may be feeling not so great. Even if you are feeling fine, a lot of people aren’t, it’s a great time to learn how to support others and to safeguard your mental health as part of your self-care routine,” said Yolanda.
Yolanda herself has tackled significant grief after the end of seven-year relationship and then losing nine family members in the space of just two years.
“It was a weird internal battle between coping and not coping. During the day I would work and work and then around 6pm or 7pm, I would just break down and cry,” said Yolanda.
“I went through a phase of not leaving the house. There was a point where I didn’t leave the house for 40 days and I didn’t even realise,” she told The Metro when interviewed about dealing with grief.
Now, through her SpeakOn Events series, she aims to demystify mental health, and hopes to raise it’s importance so it is treated just as important as physical health.
The events are suitable for a wide range of people to learn about mental health, get help, find out how to support friends and family or as part of a self care routine.
There will also be an opportunity for anonymous Q&As.
Sessions will include mental health professionals, wellbeing specialists and guests talking about their own experiences, discussing a variety of topics including:
- Job loss
- Finances
- Men’s mental health
- Lockdown anxiety
- Giving birth in lockdown
- Children’s mental health
- Bereavement
- Stress
- Breakups
- Loneliness and more
The events start tonight at 6pm, with tickets available at the SpeakOn Eventbrite page. There are a limited number of free tickets available too, just use code ‘FREE’ at checkout.
The schedule starts tonight with:
- A Guide To Seeking Help For Mental Health – which defines job roles in mental health, explains treatments and offers a guide of how to access help for yourself or on behalf of someone else.
- Mental Health Stigma And Misconceptions: The Disorders That Are Misunderstood – a guide to disorders you’ve heard about and may not understand alongside a panel with people talking about their lived experiences
25 events are planned in total ending on 19 November.
