Faces of Mental Health

Rachelle

I was first diagnosed with depression when I was 24 years old. I was in my first year of medical laboratory training, and although I was struggling emotionally, I was excited to have found my path in life.

Mental Health can be affected by so many things it was difficult to pinpoint whether my bad mood was a depressive episode, or if it was due to a major life event, like buying a house (I’ve bought and sold several over the years), wedding planning, raising twin boys, starting a new job, moving across the country and so much more.

For 20 years, I tried anti-depressant medications, psychiatrists, psychologists and self-help books, but nothing seemed to work completely. What I mean by that is I would sometimes be in the depths of despair for a week or two, then feel better, but still not 100%. I believe the medication helped bring me out of the depths, but I only reached my full potential for a few months of the year.

Recovering from depression varies widely from one person to another and is dependent on many factors. Some people will experience it once or twice in their lifetime. For me, it has been a lifelong struggle.

I remain hopeful, however, that one day I will overcome this. Although I still have some depressive episodes where I can’t bear to face the world, they have become shorter and a lot less frequent. I think what has helped more than anything has been my mindset. I used to be very pessimistic, but now I try to see the positive in every situation and I take time to really relax.

I’m sure you have all heard the saying, “Take time to stop and smell the roses.” Well, I have recently begun doing just that. I still have very busy, stressful days, but the days/weeks that I am at my very best are the ones when I make time to empty my mind of any thoughts/judgements and just allow myself to feel the sand or grass between my toes, hear the birds chirp, the wind howl or the raindrops tap on the window.

I will get there, one day at a time.

Lorenne

Mental health can be a difficult subject to talk about, especially at work. It is something that is hard to see and measure compared to the lab results we are used to reporting on a daily basis. Although you may not think you are visibly sick, mentally you may be struggling. For me, it took a long time to realize I was running on empty and had been for some time.

I was exhausted. Between working shift work, taking care of my family of five and trying to keep up with my constant to-do list, there was nothing left of me. I did not take the time I needed to focus on any of my wants or needs. So used to putting myself last, as most of us do, I did not take time to relax and unwind. I thought I could just keep going and going with one foot in front of the other. I had too many things to do so I would go to bed late and get up early almost all the time.

I had been running this cycle for so long that it got to a point where I felt like I was carrying a heavy ball in my stomach stuck behind my navel and I lost my appetite. I would walk around and at any moment felt like I could cry being triggered by random events. It was so bad, I began to avoid feelings altogether. Even watching TV and seeing someone get arrested on a cop show would trigger big emotions filled with anxiety. No matter what I thought I could do to feel better, usually a quick fix like more naps and indulging in my favourite drinks or food did not help. My problems increased to a point where, while on a date with my husband, I was sitting in a restaurant and felt like my entire body was shaking and I wanted to jump out of my skin. I hadn’t experienced a panic attack but felt this must be what was going on. We had to quit our date early since I was having difficulty breathing and resisting the urge to puke. I just could not relax.

Turns out, all of my symptoms were signs that my body was telling me I had too much adrenaline circulating my body and I did not have a way to get it out. Since I had put my body into fight or flight for too long, my body was exhausted. I realized I needed serious help before this became worse. I wisely sought guidance from my doctor who agreed I should seek counselling provided from the Employee Assistance Program through work. I learned to recognize many important points, including making sleep count and getting more than 7 hours every night. I began journaling again, which is a nice way to get my thoughts out of my head and leave them on paper instead thinking and rethinking all night long. I also learnt that I had become addicted to my thoughts and needed to learn to relax through some meditation and breathing exercises; a great tool for this is called Mindshift, which is a free app for your phone that has many different mental health tools. Another important part for me was lowering my expectations and trying to be less of a perfectionist; I cannot control everything and everyone.

Throughout my mental health journey, I have realized that you need to put yourself first. You are the only you that you are ever going to be and life is too short to feel miserable. If something isn’t working for you, reach out. There are so many people out there who want to help or listen, and multiple resources that you can try to make changes in your life. You are not weak for feeling the way you do but do not waste your time thinking you will just get by. Make happiness a priority for yourself.

Picture Description: I love this picture because it was taken just before I became so exhausted. I had planned a co-worker outing in the Lab and X-ray department. We enjoyed a night of axe throwing. It was so much fun, and we relieved stress at the same time. We learned overhead, one-handed and underhand throwing. We even had a tournament amongst ourselves. I also like this picture because it reminds me of quality control and how we try to achieve precision and accuracy.

Lisette

I have been a medical laboratory technologist for 30 years. During this time, I experienced two burnouts. Today, I will tell you about my first one:

I was working full time on a rotating schedule and had a busy life. I loved the night shift because I was able to spend time with my two boys. I would be home with them during the evening and could sleep while they were in school. Also, night shifts were mostly quiet so I was able to study toward my bachelor degree. There were other pressures, too. We only had only one secure income. I was also a perfectionist – my house had to be sparkly clean and I was volunteering at school.

One summer, I started experiencing chest pain. I had a few emergency department visits, ultrasounds and an ECG, but no one could find anything physically wrong. But, I could feel pain inside my body. My doctor put me on stress leave.

In the winter of that year, to make matters worse, my marital discord hit an all-time high. This threw me off guard, but we reconciled and agreed to attend therapy together. During the spring, the situation reached unfathomable heights and this threw me off completely.

I was hurting so much. I did not want to live anymore. I ended up in the emergency department. In that bed, I told myself I had to make a life change or, otherwise, I would not be there for my boys.

I reached out for help. I made some difficult decisions, but they made me better and helped me get back to my boys and work.

It was hard to work while going through all of this. The major impact on my lab work was the inability to concentrate and calling in sick often. My co-workers could not count on me and, when I was back at work, I felt they were judging me.

If there is one piece of advice I can give to someone dealing with a difficult situation in their life, it is to reach out for help. The sooner you do this, the sooner you get better.

At your workplace, remember that each person showing up for a shift has a story. Have empathy.

If you want to help a co-worker, there is a simple question to ask, “How can I make your day better today?”

Joël

Hi, everyone. My name is Joël. I am a mental health advocate and ally. Although I do not live with mental illness, several of those in my professional and personal circle do. Most suffer in silence. Many don’t need to.

I feel that everyone has a role to play when it comes to mental health advocacy. While annual initiatives, like Bell Let’s Talk, have helped mainstream and bring mental health issues and awareness to the forefront, keeping the conversation going yearlong is all up to us. There are many ways you can help, and they are all relatively simple (i.e., no event planning experiences or technology skills required!!). Firstly, choose kindness and empathy; everyone is fighting a battle. Secondly, I encourage you all to educate yourselves further about mental illness (e.g., mental health resources on the CSMLS website or take a mental health first aid course). Thirdly, try to foster safe spaces for genuine and open conversations with those around you. And lastly, practice regular self-care and ensure you meet your own mental health needs first and foremost; you are your most important resource!

As a staunch supporter of organizations that help champion mental health advocacy, I do what I can to help bring mental health awareness to the forefront. I host and organize annual community fundraisers for groups, like the Canadian Mental Health Association, the Support Network and Youth Empowerment Support Services. Through action research at the University of Alberta, I also helped pilot a low cost SMS (aka texting) outreach program to better connect youth emergency shelters with transient homeless youth, the majority of whom suffer from mental illness and difficult realities. This project grants those who are most vulnerable (<10 days on the street) options and access to essential human needs and services. At the same time, the program allows service providers to reach out to their most at risk of entrenchment demographic by letting them know that they are not alone and easing them off the streets in a safe, supportive and inclusive environment.

Safe spaces, inclusion, kindness and acceptance (it’s OK to not be OK) help lay the foundation for effective and authentic mental health advocacy.