Courage in dealing with mental health

 The Wear Your Heart On Your Sleeve initiative first took it upon themselves to address and spread awareness about the very serious issue of mental health in 2019 during its first Mental Health Day event.

Since then, Heiby Warren, a qualified life coach and founder of ThisIsMe Consulting and her team have worked tirelessly to promote mental health.

More recently, on October 10, the team held another successful event to celebrate World Mental Health Day at the Krugersdorp Lions clubhouse on the Khosa Sports Club grounds where their aim was to teach visitors various healthy self-soothing habits to help deal with daily and situational stress. Heiby also focused on techniques to help people have self-compassion breaks, to nurture self-talk, and to use the five senses to self-soothe.

Heiby said she wanted to encourage people to expose their true emotions and be vulnerable. “This means not bottling it up, supporting each other through difficult times and knowing you’re not alone, that there is help out there. Covid-19 has had a marked effect on mental health in general. Now more than ever, people need to be open about their feelings to let it all out. There’s so much help and support available, especially through SADAG (South African Depression and Anxiety Group).”

Ashley Stander, Krugersdorp Lions President added that, “Before the event, delegates were given the opportunity to mindfully paint wooden hearts. The painted hearts were given time to dry during the event. Once dry, delegates wrote messages of encouragement on their painted hearts, which were hung up on trees for pedestrians to take home as a reminder and as encouragement. Heiby runs two support groups of her own; one for people who struggle with depression and another for family members of those who struggle with depression.”

For more information feel free to contact info@thisisme-consulting.co.za.