Every day in Australia, 7 people die by suicide. Every year mental illness affects 1 in every 20 people. (Both statistics are approximate)
When I read that I understand why mental illness is a worldwide health issue. However it also affects us closer to home with friends and family and those we know in our community. I am one of those people. I identify with/am recovering from/am living with/have/had, a mental illness for about 10 years of my life thus far.. I’m Lucy and I’m the founder of a small business; The Wholistic Being. It’s important to know before you read any further, that I whole-heartedly believe that everything happens for a reason. Good, bad, happy, sad, unreasonable, improbable, unforeseen and inconceivable; whatever it is I believe it serves some purpose to your life. I want to be clear that I do not always understand what the purpose is and I’m not sure I need to. When it really, really counts – you just know.
The Wholistic Being is the representation of my purpose. I have studied Drama and Education, but have a degree in Business Management. I have been unwell with depression and anxiety and now my career is focused on positive mental health, which is how my business came to be. The journey makes sense and has created my purpose as well as my passion.
The Wholistic Being is small business with a big purpose. Our aim is to partner together for positive mental health. Partner with community groups, families, work places, big organisations, small organisations and with individuals – to make positive mental health a priority. The Wholistic Being provides training to the fore-mentioned groups to break down the stigma and build knowledge around mental illness.
At present, we offer three courses; Mental Health First Aid (MHFA), safeTALK and Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST). MHFA is a two-day course that looks at depression, anxiety, psychosis and substance use and informs participants on how to deal with several different crises associated with these illnesses. This course is to mental health, what conventional first aid is to physical health. No prior knowledge is required for this course and it something I would encourage everyone to do. safeTALK is a 3.5 hour suicide-alertness workshop, about promoting awareness and creating a suicide-safer community. This is also an introductory course, which is also open to everyone. ASIST is a two day course which teaches participants a suicide intervention model that informs them how to intervene and prevent the immediate risk of suicide. This course is important for all those in caregiver roles (doctors, nurses, teachers, police, support workers, youth workers etc) but is based on the idea that everyone can make a difference in preventing suicide, so the more people who attend ASIST, the better.
When I was struggling in the midst of depression and anxiety, those close to me also had a difficult time as they didn’t know a lot about mental illness and had to learn quickly what worked and what didn’t. The reason I have based my business around MHFA, safeTALK and ASIST is because they offer relevant information and practical techniques and frameworks that can be applied in the real world.
I feel incredibly grateful to have found my passion and purpose, presenting to different and diverse groups. If you are interested in any of the courses we offer or would like to talk about how we could partner together for positive mental health, I would love to hear from you.
The Wholistic Being promotes positive wellbeing and we are very grateful to be associated with Sunny Coast Health and Fitness!
Want to find out more about The Wholistic Being?
Website: http://www.thewholisticbeing.com.au/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewholisticbeing/
Email: lucy@thewholisticbeing.com.au
