WHAT IS A SUPPORT NETWORK?
It’s been a very challenging few weeks both personally and professionally. I am being very mindful about managing this so I don’t sink again.
It is also the one year anniversary of the time that my Mental Health really started to play up. Looking back I’m very proud I acted on my Mental Health first aid training, engaging family,friends I trusted to do something about it.
As I’ve mentioned on a previous blog post I experienced burnout, this took over six months to form a plan to get myself well again. It involved interactions with doctors, my charity, family and friends.
But it’s not until a recent post on our Peer Support group that I started thinking about what a support network actually is. I always assumed it was related directly with people, and the post made me really question what effective support looks like?
The more I thought about it the more I realised it didn’t always have to be about having human support. I spend a lot of time outdoors interacting with nature on my own. When you start looking closer there are lots of ways to get help from the outdoors and what is around you. But first of all you need to identify places that you are comfortable being in. Over the last few weeks I’ve been fascinated by bees, the way that they work together to survive and produce one of the most remarkable things which is honey. There is some incredible YouTube content out there but you can dig deep into this. Then actually going out and watching them function is fascinating. I had to reassure my wife that I wasn’t going to get a beehive in the garden! But seriously these are remarkable creatures and we just take them for granted.
I put together this little video whilst there was sat reflecting and it might be of use to somebody. I think sometimes spending time exploring these things can actually open up different levels of support for you.
Seven years ago I started a small litter picking group to cover the nature trails behind my house. The more I did this the more I saw the benefits of it, I created a Facebook group and I realise that I wasn’t the only one out there that appreciated the way that the nature trails supported our mental health. This is now grown into a community of nearly 8000 people, all appreciating what’s on their doorstep. The group has created a place of safety for many, a place where horse riders can talk with runners, parents can talk with each other and sadly local county line drug dealers can use it to avoid the police! A support network has been created for me out of nothing, through this I can use the environment, people I meet, the changing weather, just to share beauty as a way of recharging my batteries. It is a place of safety where I can exercise, observe, question and reflect – a very important support network outdoors.
I’d like to encourage you to think about what your support networks are and whether for you they are provided by other people or something else.
I’d love to hear you thoughts on this. Post in comments if you want to share.