Mental health problems will affect one in four of us at some point in our lives according to the charity MIND but it still remains a taboo subject for many people.
Reporter Danya Bazaraa visited the not-for-profit company Sanctuary Supported Living's workshops on anxiety and came away in awe at the work it does to break down barriers and ease people’s suffering.
EVERYONE suffers from anxiety sometimes, but the important message given in the mental health workshops I attended was that people should never be afraid to seek help.
Sanctuary Supported Living provides specialist support and accommodation for the homeless, people with mental health issues, physical and learning disabilities, teenage parents and their children, carers, people experiencing drug and alcohol problems or domestic abuse.
It provides homes and support to over 6,000 people nationwide and is part of the UK housing and care provider Sanctuary Group.
Experts held a series of workshops on anxiety in Cumberland Park, Acton, to mark Mental Health Awareness Week last week (May 12-16) and invited me along to see the outstanding work they do.
I honestly walked away in awe of the rapport that gets built between clients and carers and completely convinced by the fact that a person who is suffering can find comfort and ease from the genuine care of another.
Local Services Manager Sharon Johnson had a calmness I have never seen before, and the manner in which she spoke to her clients, you could tell, made them feel relaxed and reassured.
Her openness and honesty about her own struggles with depression showed people that you can be in a dark place and still turn your life around.
Ms Johnson lost her mother when she was young and so when she lost her father in 2006 she became depressed, turned to alcohol and suffered from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
She said: “I was washing the wheelie bins at 3am because I could not sleep.
“I know it’s difficult to ask people for help - do you think I wanted people to know I was drinking all night and then putting on my lipstick and coming to work the next day?
“Often we do not look for the help we need, we lock ourselves away, and that’s when it gets worse.
“I suffered for about six months and then one morning I walked into a church and there was a coffin. I started reading the cards and something said to me: your father did not sacrifice so much for you to be an alcoholic.”
Ms Johnson said she does not think of her current role as a 9-5 job, and she would rather leave her house at the weekend and see someone who needs help than have that person get ill.
She said she never gives up on anybody and believes everyone is capable of maintaining a normal level of mental health and leading an independent life, whatever ‘normal’ may be.
The Local Services Manager said she finds it rewarding seeing people turning their lives around.
The Group work with West London Mental Health Trust and with those at risk of offending, and get their referrals through Ealing Council.
The workshops I attended taught people about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder which is characterised by apprehensive thoughts of fear and worry and repetitive behaviours aimed at reducing anxiety; Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, an anxiety caused by very stressful, frightening or distressing events; Social Anxiety Disorder, a persistent fear of social situations; specific phobias and Generalised Anxiety Disorder, feelings of unease, fear or worry, whether mild or severe.
Speakers said mental illness is still thought of as a taboo subject but it should not be and that many people are still ignorant of it.
One of the speakers stressed that it can happen to anyone, is nothing to be ashamed of, but that it can affect all aspects of one’s life and it is vital people ask for help.
The Sanctuary Group is not-for profit, with surpluses reinvested into the provision of affordable housing, the maintenance of existing properties, and the development of new services.
