Make A Commitment To Be A Good Mate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOCcgI5j_30

Transcript

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Hey Team,

Today is a national good mate's day.

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So we want to talk to

you guys about mental health.

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And since it's May?

Are we in May? May now!

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oh my gosh, May is Mental Health Month.

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So we're going to do

a few weekly reminders

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this month talking about mental health.

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And this is an important topic

because one in five Aussies

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actually struggle with mental health.

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Young Aussies, young Aussies.

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And it's more common in LGBTQIA+

youth as well.

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This is something very important to us

and we want to chat about it.

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So National Good Mates Day focuses

on encouraging people to pledge towards

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ending youth suicide,

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and they do this

through an online training

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which can equip you with the skills

and vocabulary

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to help your mates out when they need it

the most.

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So when I was at high school,

I actually struggled a lot with my mental

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health, probably around year eight,

I would say is when it was like peaking.

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It was just,

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you know, when you're at school,

you just you're trying to find yourself.

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You don't really know

if your solid friendships are yet.

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You don't know what you want to do in

life.

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There's so many changes happening at once.

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It's just like a scary time.

Did you feel like that?

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It feels like

the world is against you. Yes! Yes.

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I felt like I was on my own.

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No one understood me and yeah, I was going

through some pretty major changes

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in my family life as well.

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And I didn't really know

how to make sense of the world anymore.

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And I became quite depressed and anxious.

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I remember I thought I was just anxious.

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And then once I spoke to a professional,

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they got me to do like this test, I guess.

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And it came out that I actually had

depression and anxiety,

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which was pretty alarming for me

because I never would have labeled myself

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with that.

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Just thought it was anxiety.

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But luckily before

I went to a professional,

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I had some really great friends

that I could speak to

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and they helped me out

a lot during those times.

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And how good would it have been

if those friends had had specific

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training and had a better understanding

about things that they could say

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to help you along your way

as. Well? That would have been amazing.

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I feel like this training

is like super important,

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not just for us in our twenties.

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I feel like if you're still at school,

please do this training.

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It's free.

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It will take you 30 minutes to 60 minutes

and it will help you help your mates.

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Of course, it's not your responsibility

to take on someone else's mental health.

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And the training goes over this.

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So the training covers a variety

of things, things like suicide prevention.

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It talks about panic attacks

and it also talks about self-harm.

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It kind of gives you some ways

to work with the people who are struggling

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with these things at the moment.

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And of course there's no

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like script or something

you can say that's a one size fits all,

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but there are certain structures,

I guess, or systems you can follow

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to help make sure that it's a safe space

for both yourself and the other person.

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So if you know someone in your life

who's struggling with their mental health

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and you do want to bring up

that conversation with them,

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here are four tips that the training

will go through more in depth with you,

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but we'll just cover them now.

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So the first thing you want to do

is consider the situation.

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Are you the right person

to be having this conversation

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with the person in front of you?

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And I guess what that means is like, do

you feel comfortable talking about this?

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Because if you don't,

if it's triggering for you,

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if it's just something you really don't

want to do, that's going to come across

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in the conversation and the other person

will probably hold back

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and not talk to you about it.

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So just make sure that you're comfortable

and ready to have this conversation.

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Okay,

so once you've had that conversation,

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you obviously don't want to shut them down

and that be the end of it.

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You want to ask them

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if they've

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if they have like an action plan

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and if they would consider

seeing a professional for help.

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The main thing to do during this time

is to still be a support for this person.

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Definitely don't just stop talking to them

after this.

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You know,

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they've just trusted you with something

super important

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and it's not your responsibility

to provide that help,

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but you should allow them

to have that space to chat with you

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about what they can do moving forward,

because maybe they don't know

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that there is a way out

of feeling that way.

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Maybe they just feel stuck.

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But you can let them know that there are

many ways to get out of that feeling.

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And a good start

is by speaking to a professional.

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So once you've finished

having this conversation with your friend

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and they've left, make sure you take that

time to take care of yourself as well.

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If they've told you something triggering,

you really don't want to hold on to that.

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So make sure you have someone to talk to

as well.

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The important thing is not to gossip

about what just happened.

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If you are speaking to a friend

about the conversation you just had,

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you can leave details out of it

like a person's name, for example.

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It's a good way to vent,

but without shaming that person,

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without exposing details

about your private conversation with them.

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So yeah, just be careful

when you're speaking to other friends

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about the situation

and make sure it's not a gossip.

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So we hope you're

all taking care of yourself

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and we encourage you to do this training

so you're equipped with potentially life

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saving skills.

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The link will be in the blog,

so get crackin.

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We hope you have a fantastic week.

We're sending you

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all the love in the world

and we'll see you next week. Bye!

Australia’s first digital peer to peer mental health first aid training program is here and it’s FREE!

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This week we are encouraging you to take 30-60 minutes of your day to complete the training that could potentially save a mate's life!

The reality is 1 in 5 Aussies live with a mental disorder and the majority reach out to their mates before anyone else.

If you have someone in your life who is struggling with suicidal thoughts, self harming behaviour or regular panic attacks, this training will help you to help them.

If you don’t have time to take the training, definitely check out the resources below and save them on your phone if you need!

Comment below if you complete the training so we can celebrate you!

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