mental health everyoneI was fortunate enough to attend the inaugural Mental Health Summit last Friday which featured many great and inspiring speakers. Incredibly, this was the very first summit of its kind in Ireland so hats off to every single person involved in making it happen. mental health everyone

It was a wet and wild morning as I made my way to the Aviva Stadium, the location of the Summit and I held the door open for a lady coming out of a taxi behind me and we both entered the building together. I immediately felt a lovely, positive energy emanating from her. As we were redirected to another entrance we started to chat along the way. “I know you” she said.  This happens to us all sometimes and I desperately started to think, “how do I know her?” “Wait,” she said and took her phone out of her bag, and showed me The Positive Habit course in her open browser.  She, of course, had recognised me and my voice from the recordings and videos on the website.  It was such a pleasure for me to meet a client in a chance encounter like this and to listen to how the course has helped her already positive nature shift into a higher gear. As we entered to register for the conference she asked me what was I doing there? When I replied that it was for the mental health conference she replied “mental health?! I’m here for a beauty conference!” Although she had followed me to the wrong place the time we had together was, I believe, meant to happen. mental health everyone

As previously mentioned, the speakers were all excellent but two of them really spoke to me in a way that resonated. The first was sports psychologist, Gerry Hussey who immediately brought a calm, focused attention to the room. He made the pertinent points that people are happy to talk about mental health in a general sense once it does not refer to them. You,me and every human being has some level of mental health just as we have some level of physical health. Sometimes our mental health can be very good, sometimes it can be very bad but no matter what state it is in it always needs our love and care. For more information on the great work Jerry does please see his website –  www.gerryhussey.ie

The second speaker was Niall Breslin a.k.a. “Bressie” who is an incredible ambassador for mental health in this country. He spoke with humor and honesty about his long battle with anxiety and while he has made incredible progress he was aware that he still needs to to care for his mind on a daily basis.  My own mind drifted back to the earlier chance encounter that morning and how the lady I had met was someone who recognised that she needed a little help to bring out the best that is in her.  This was true awareness and showed that she really cared for her mental health.

This week, please consider what you can do each day to care for your mental health; reading a Positive Pause each week definitely covers Monday mornings so thanks for reading –  it means more to me than you will ever know.