Mental Health Check-in

Roxanne nguyen  0:03  
Hi guys! Welcome back to another episode of UTS Student Hacks. Today we'll be talking about mental health check in. Before we get right into it, get some water for snacks and get yourself settled in. I'm Roxanne, I'm in my fourth year of Medical Science and International Studies. And here we're also joined with-

Kelly Ding  0:20  
 Kelly! I'm also in my fourth year of law and business majoring in accounting. This episode about mental health we are joined with Cordelia, who was the 2019 UTSOC president. So Claudia, introduce yourself.

Cordelia Hsu  0:38  
Hi, my name is Cordeliah , I just finished a communications degree majoring in journalism. I think for me, mental health is one of my biggest passion just because it's something that I've struggled with for a lot of my life. And it's I just really want to help make change so that no one else has to go through anything similar. So our first question is, "What is mental health?"

 To me, mental health is really anything about your mental well being how you're feeling, whether it's both positive and negative. And I think there's a lot of, you know, there can be a lot of information out there about, you know, mental health conditions like depression and anxiety. But I think it's important to acknowledge that there's such a wide range of different mental health conditions that aren't just those two kind of main ones you hear about.

 And even if it's just stuff like how you're stressed, you're feeling personality disorders, eating disorders, everything, anything that comes from how you're feeling, I guess, ties into mental health. And I think it's really important to acknowledge that mental health also affects your physical health and your physical health can also affect your mental health. They're not two separate things, they really go hand in hand.

Kelly Ding  1:48  
 So mental health, it's pretty integrated in our lives. It's not just that, like you said, it's not a standalone thing that you can separate from the rest of yourself. All right, next question. "Why is mental health important, especially amongst university students?"

Cordelia Hsu  2:03  
Having good awareness of your own mental health is really important, especially for university students, because university students are typically at that age where they've really just come out into the big world, they've left the comfort of high school, and they can often be going through a lot of changes in their social life, careers, everything, and they're at a very vulnerable point in their life. And with the stress of uni, I think it's really important that they stay on top of their mental health and realize when they're feeling stressed, or overwhelmed or burnt out. 

Because if they don't get on top of it, it can have a lot of lead on effects that affect them for the rest of their life. 

Kelly Ding  2:38  
Yeah, especially like going into university people like moving out of home. Yeah, like even moving like, not even cross country, to a different country for university. Yeah. Like the stresses of like leaving your comfort support system, things like that can subconsciously affect your mental health. How do you personally check on your mental health? Oh, do you have any pointers for someone to help them check on how their mental health is going? 

Cordelia Hsu  3:04  
What was really helpful for me in kind of checking in on my mental health was, I kind of   like a list of, of my own personal signs. So for me what's personally helped with staying on top of my mental health and keeping it in check was, I've created my own list of signs that shows that when my mental health might be deteriorating things from just withdrawing from friends, not replying to messages is a big one for me. And I have it all written down. And it's really important that about once a week, I always just go through the list and check like, Am I is any of this happening? And if so, I then have another list of just smaller things that I can do that kind of helps orientate me a bit more things like art, or going out of my way to actually reply to messages. And even just simple things like breathing and grounding exercises can really helped me feel more in the moment and stop getting lost in my head as much. 

Kelly Ding  3:58  
I know, there's like a lot of apps that focus on like journalizing like your feelings and things like that. Do you personally like doing it on your phone? Or do you like write this down? What's your mode of taking note of subtle actions that you've done?

Cordelia Hsu  4:11  
 I started bullet journaling last year, which so I do it all handwritten and I draw and paint and everything and so for me actually getting it out on paper helps me express it rather than on a phone because at least for me, personally, I know a lot of people enjoy using their phones and it's easier but because I spend so much of my job in my life on my phone. I like having something else to just relax and my bullet journal is kind of like my unwind safe space, I guess. 

Kelly Ding  4:38  
Yeah, I tried to get into bullet journaling. You can be so creative with what you want each week was so different and I was like hmm 

Cordelia Hsu  4:45  
it's hard to stay on top of sometimes.

Kelly Ding  4:47  
 Yeah, it is especially if you want to make it look very aesthetically pleasing.

So moving on to your time at UTSOC. What was your experience hearing students share their experience from the smash the stigma project?

So for me, I felt it was incredibly humbling to say how many participated in you'd sock smash the stigma campaign. And it really drove it home for me to see that everyone is really dealing with their own stuff. especially seeing all these people I knew maybe a bit more on a casual basis coming out and sharing what they've been through. I was like, Wow, really everyone has a story to tell. I do think really the most impactful thing from that whole experience was the overall feedback I had from my friends in the general public, I got so overwhelmed with messages from people who were expressing, I guess, gratitude for the campaign and how much it had helped them to see that they really weren't alone. And just thankful for the bravery everyone had for speaking publicly about the mental health. I was even stopped in person around campus from people who recognize me from the campaign to thank me for it. So I just like it really emphasized how much the stigma around mental health needs to be broken. 

Definitely something as simple as giving them a safe space to even talk about it. Something as simple as that can really bring so much awareness to really smashing the stigma.

Cordelia Hsu  6:09  
 Yeah, definitely

Kelly Ding  6:11  
 What are the effects of stigmatizing mental health?

Cordelia Hsu  6:14  
I think the biggest and most damaging effect of mental health stigma is that it stops people from getting the help they need, which then further silences the issue and contributes to the cycle of stigma. People can often feel like they're not bad enough to go get help, or they're just faking it, or people won't believe them. Or they're too scared to say anything in case people tell them to just suck it up. Because perhaps on the outside, they're living a good life. So it really is a major barrier in getting that first step of professional help. And for many people, if they don't take that first step, it doesn't get better. 

Kelly Ding  6:54  
Yeah, it's always the first step that seems really daunting. Yeah, like in any scenario, but more- more for like mental health, especially with the stigma and everything surrounding that. So what actions can people take to reduce the stigma? 

Cordelia Hsu  7:08  
To reduce stigma, I think people should take care and be mindful of what they say about the topic, even things that may seem small as mocking celebrities who come out as having mental health conditions that can be very damaging to hear to a friend who might be going through something similar, because they now feel like they can't confide in you, because they've heard you mock someone else going through something similar. But as with most things, I don't think it can be just left up to individual people to make change, there needs to be systemic and institutional change. And I think that's really the biggest thing. Things like mental health sick leave. For me personally, it feels like it'd be a lot easier to call in sick if you're vomiting. And it's easy to get a medical certificate for that, rather than if you're struggling mentally, you just need a day off. 

Kelly Ding  7:59  
So are there any signs that person could be experiencing a mental health condition? Or more like how would you be able to go to a friend like not alarming them, but saying, like, " hey, I've noticed that you haven't been you're quite yourself these days."

Cordelia Hsu  8:14  
 So you know, there are so many different mental health conditions that do manifest themselves in different ways. But I think maybe one of the biggest signs to watch out for away from my own personal experience is withdrawal. If your friend has just stopped showing up to social events, or replying in group chat, don't always believe them. If they're saying, oh, they're just busy, I'm just busy with uni work. withdrawing from social life, I feel is such an important sign of a deteriorating mental health condition. And it's often the most obvious one to notice. Other ones mood sleep or appetite changes, even something like an increase an increase of like self deprecating humor. Like whilst it might seem something bit humorous, it is often a telling sign of something else that's going on.

 Even just extreme highs can be a sign of mental health conditions, not just extreme lows. So really, you're just looking out for if your friends been experiencing any changes out of the norm, especially if you know they've just undergone perhaps recent trauma or anything like that. 

Kelly Ding  9:20  
very wide range.

Cordelia Hsu  9:22  
 Yeah, really. It's just if your friend isn't acting like themselves, I don't think there's any harm in just being like, "Hey, I've noticed you've been acting a bit different. It's something alright? Can I help with anything? Is it uni?" Or just reach out, I don't think there's any harm in reaching out and your friends not going to hate you if you ask them if they're okay.

Kelly Ding  9:46  
So reaching out as always the first step not just like keeping it to yourself

Cordelia Hsu  9:51  
Definitely.

Kelly Ding  9:52  
What actions can you help to support a friends if, even though they said they're all right, what can you do besides just reaching out?

In terms of supporting friends, I guess first up, I really want to stress that at the end of the day, you can't help other people if you're not helping yourself. So it's important to not sacrifice your own mental health for the sake of a friend. Most of us aren't professionals who are trained to handle these situations. But a lot of the time, that's kind of what your friend needs from you. They don't need you to be their therapist and diagnose them. Not really, sometimes, I guess they just need someone to listen to them. And I think that's the first step anyone can do. As long as their friend is not an immediate danger, just listen to them. They don't need you to offer them advice, they just need to know that someone cares and that they're not alone. 

Cordelia Hsu  10:42  
After that, I then think the biggest thing is assisting them in getting professional help. And don't just tell them to go see a therapist actually help them perhaps book the GP appointment or offer to go with them to the UTS counseling services in building one. Reaching out to a friend is hard but reaching out for professional help is even harder. And you know, speaking from my own personal experience, I really struggled getting professional help, even though I knew it was the right thing to do. And it took like a friend literally had to book an appointment for me and come with me for me to take that first in getting professional help.

Kelly Ding  11:20  
 Yeah, I think that all ties back to the stigma around like getting professional help with mental health. Because Yeah, like exactly like what you said, like, you knew it was the right thing to do to ask for personal help. But with the stigma and everything like that it was really difficult. 

Cordelia Hsu  11:36  
And you know, like it made me feel so hypocritical, because I was like telling all my friends like no, go get professional help when myself, I couldn't do that step, friendship support and just having a strong support network is really important. Which is why if you, if you notice your friend withdrawing, that's usually a bad sign because they're disconnecting from the support network, and you need to make sure that they know that their support network is still there for them.

 I guess I think the number one thing I want listeners to know is that

 If it's okay to not be feeling, okay, you're not doing this for attention. You're not making this up. You're not being overly sensitive or emotional, your feelings are valid, no matter what else is happening in your life. And it is valid for you to express that and get help for it.

 Probably just repeating myself. But again,

 there's no shame in reaching out to your friend either to get help or asking them if they're okay, your friends for a reason. No one's going to feel like you're a burden on them. If you reach out for help, and vice versa. If you're reaching out to a friend and asking them if they're okay, they're not going to feel offended that they think you might not be okay. 

Kelly Ding  12:58  
And as well as reaching out to a friend or just asking for help. That first step is very important. And you should do it. 

Cordelia and Kelly  13:06  
Yes, do it. Do it.

Kelly Ding  13:08  
 Firstly, thank you to Cordelia for being a part of this episode on mental health. 

Roxanne nguyen  13:13  
And as always, thank you for listening to this week's podcast. If you want to check out any of our other previous episodes there on our website and other sites like Spotify, a special shout out to UTS startups as always for allowing us to use the podcasting space. You should really check out UTS startups as they have an amazing range of resources. Don't forget to join us for our next podcast. Until next time. 

Kelly and Roxanne  13:33  
See ya!

Transcribed by https://otter.ai