On Tuesday we start the first ever MHM Mental Health First Aid course. This is a pivotal moment as it means the MHM national biker support network becomes a step closer to reality. What makes it more special is all the participants are all MHM moderators and ambassadors. It is going to be a special moment when this course kicks off, though knowing some of the characters it will be a challenge (but entertaining)!
A huge thanks goes out to www.andyelwood.com for sponsoring this event and making the magic happen. And to Iain ‘Gudgeon’ Fish for the image. More news will be posted soon and how this course is going.
World Mental Health Day (10 October) is an international day for global mental health education, awareness and advocacy against social stigma. It was first celebrated in 1992 at the initiative of the World Federation for Mental Health, a global mental health organisation with members and contacts in more than 150 countries. This day, each October, thousands of supporters come to celebrate this annual awareness program to bring attention to mental illness and its major effects on peoples’ lives worldwide.
The History of World Mental Health Day
World Mental Health Day was celebrated for the first time on October 10, 1992 at the initiative of Deputy Secretary General Richard Hunter. Up until 1994, the day had no specific theme other than general promoting mental health advocacy and educating the public.
In 1994 World Mental Health Day was celebrated with a theme for the first time at the suggestion of then Secretary General Eugene Brody. The theme was “Improving the Quality of Mental Health Services throughout the World.”
World Mental Health Day is supported by WHO through raising awareness on mental health issues using its strong relationships with the Ministries of health and civil society organizations across the globe. WHO also supports with developing technical and communication material.
As we head towards winter already our plans are in-place for an epic event next May. We are preparing for the launch of the MHM Baton Relay event 2021. The last few days we’ve created publicity, a podcast, a press pack and this new web page. The project goes live so watch this space and see you on the 10th! which is World Mental Health Awareness Day
When you set out to do something new life will always throw you curve balls. You won’t have a moment to breathe, you will question is this the right thing? It will cost you personally lots of money, but if you surround yourself with interesting people who have amazing stories to tell and an adventurous spirit you start to believe anything is possible.
Three days at the Overland event Has given me so much confidence and belief that what we are doing with Mental Health Motorbike is of life changing importance. I’ve met young people who rode 40,000 miles round the world on a scooter and sidecar. I’ve met world-class musicians who said we can use any of their music to assist our work. I’ve met women adventurers who are such + role models for the next generation of young women. I’ve met members of our team who are fighting the battle of their life but refuse to let cancer beat them. In short I’ve met some of the most incredible people in my life in one place in a field in Oxfordshire, my god what a absolute privilege this was.
So what does this mean? Basically has charged my battery so full I know we just have to make this work now. Mental health is so important. There has been numerous times in my life where I have wished I was wasn’t here. I have two families that love me, support me and have brought me up well. But even that wasn’t strong enough to stop me wanting to end everything. Many people don’t have that support and I can’t imagine the loneliness to be on the brink of making that final decision alone. We have to do more to look after people and this isn’t rocket science to achieve. Suicide destroys families and rips communities apart and the relatives and friends are left asking WHY? with no possible answer to this question available for the rest of their lives. If we can encourage people to get the right support and give longer term support and hope this might be reduced.
Being in a field in Oxfordshire with Paddy, Saul, Nick and the Overland team I believe will be a pivotal moment in my life. It has really focussed my thinking that doing a small something is better than doing a massive nothing! They are really good people who have sacrificed a lot to make these events happen but my God what they do is good.
Thank you Overland Team you are amazing and we will try to create another story worthy of going in the Overland story book.
Today we want to share some amazing news… Bennett’s Insurance have come onboard as a sponsor. Thank you for believing in what we do and giving us the support to help bikers with their longer term well being.
Over the last two months we’ve been in lockdown and the situation has been different for everybody across the country. I am very lucky as we live in a rural location with hundreds of footpaths and farmers fields. This has meant been able to go for long walks without seeing a single person.
The mental health motorbike had a plan before lockdown to go out to a number of events across the country supporting bikers where the need arose. This very quickly changed so we went online. People started coming to us through messenger, zoom and chat for support. Over the last few months we supported over 75 people. Of this 26 of these have been one to one engagements. And a number of these people were in a bad way at the point of contacting us.
Supporting people like this has been new to me so I needed to find a way of managing it. On average a one-to-one support call lasts for two hours. So I decided to take my office outdoors and walk and talk in the beautiful countryside. This has had a number of benefits. First I was with the person in the here and now, second I was using the outdoor environment and nature a way of keeping calm and being able to focus on what people were saying to me. Thirdly I’m really importantly for me I was getting fit whilst working.
I appreciate not everybody can redefine what their office is. But I would encourage you to think about how to utilise the outdoors to create a more harmonious work environment.
If you need any support go to www.facebook.com/mhmotorbike And hit the Send Message button or go to the website www.mhmotorbike.com And hit the chat button bottom right of the screen.
After reviewing how people are making contact we have decided to move over to a live chat function on the website. We are aiming to be available from 12pm – 6pm Monday to Fridays and 12pm – 2pm Saturdays.
the live chat is available directly from all pages of the website (www.mhmotorbike.com) and also redirects people from Facebook Page (www.facebook.com/mhmotorbike) if they hit the SEND MESSAGE button. Let people know we are easier to access now.
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