Jodie’s mental health story

Through blogging about my mental health I’ve learnt A LOT about myself and my own mental health. So I decided I wanted to give other people an opportunity to share their journey, so that we can all help each other by reading about our different experiences. My aim through blogging is to create a community of Wellbeans and through this and my letter exchange, I hope I am slowly reaching that goal.

If you’d like to write about your mental health story on my blog, please follow this link and fill out the form.

Over the years I’ve suffered from depression, loneliness, stress, overwhelming worry and self harm

Jodie Walsh from Manchester got in touch to share her mental health journey. This is her story…

I never really thought I had a “mental health journey” until I recently got to a good place and looked back. Over the years I’ve suffered from depression, loneliness, stress, overwhelming worry and self harm. My teenage years were difficult as I had a turbulent home life and not dealing with issues at the time didn’t help me cope in the long run.

I did seek help from my doctor but his answer was simply to medicate which at the time I didn’t want to do. They offered me no alternative therapies so I sought my own. Learning to clear my mind was the biggest challenge and I still now use breathing techniques and sleep story or music aids to relax at night.

I’d like to add that medication definitely helps a lot of people, many of my friends included. I was just in a place in my life that I didn’t feel it would be beneficial to me and was more open to lifestyle changes.

True friends are always there, on good days and bad days.

What advice would you give other people suffering from the same condition as you?

The biggest advice I can give is to open up to others. I have always been one to not want to burden my partner or friends when I’m down. But true friends are always there, on good days and bad days. It’s okay to rely on people for support.

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Thanks so much to Jodie for sharing her story. I can totally relate to feeling like you don’t want to burden your loved ones when your down, but you are right true friends stick around!