Make it your business to be healthy in 2019
Fourteen and a half thousand referrals from Gloucestershire and Herefordshire came the way of a specialist service supporting people with mental health issues last year alone. According to the 2gether NHS Foundation Trust, which provides the Let’s Talk service, one in six people of working age are affected by mental ill health. Recent figures released by Mynurva, which provides access to confidential counselling, found 32 per cent of working UK adults have suffered from mental health problems in the workplace. Thirty-seven per cent have never sought any professional help (42 per cent of men and 32 per cent of women), with 44 per cent never disclosing any issue to their line manager. The Federation of Small Business and the charity Mind calculated this all costs UK plc £26 billion annually. Rosemary Neale, of Let’s Talk, said: “Last year we received more than 14,500 referrals to our service. “That figure is ever growing, but we know that not everyone who needs our support is getting in touch, perhaps because they feel ashamed or embarrassed about speaking about how they are feeling. “Men can be particularly reluctant to speak up and might be self-medicating, perhaps through drinking too much, but that is changing. “We help with a range of problems – depression, anxiety, panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, to name a few. The earlier you seek support, generally the quicker you can become well again. “The first step is often the hardest, but once you’ve taken it, the sense of relief can be immense. Help is out there.”
Dealing with the common missive fired at men first – that they don’t talk about such things. There can be good reason. We spoke to one businessman, whose successful career began because of his mental health issues. He felt his only route into work had been to start his own business, believing strongly no one would employ someone with mental health issues. “The stigma is still there. I have suffered from clinical depression for 35 years and am told I will never recover the life I had. I just have a recurring illness,” said the Gloucestershire entrepreneur.
“I suffer bouts of depression, which can take up to three months out of my life. I feel very strongly that it’s about time other so-called healthy people should be educated about what depression is all about. “I still have people telling me I have got to pull myself together. I didn't choose this condition, it was imposed on me by events not of my making. “This is not a cry-baby story but a genuine attempt to show that you can suffer depression and make a lot of your life. “If you choose to publish this please, do not identify me, as I have a major nationwide company which I daren’t sacrifice due to human ignorance of my condition.” Which is why we have kept his name out of it. Gloucestershire-based charity The Nelson Trust is a specialist in helping individuals deal with life without the substance they have become addicted too or abused. “Seventy-six per cent of men and women in our
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10 | February 2019 | www. punchline-gloucester .com
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