So. It's another #MentalHealth day. At least maybe this means people are reading the hashtag. So please read @hagenilda 's post on the hypocrisy with which 'it's good to talk' is often wielded. https://hagenilda.wordpress.com/2019/08/03/its-good-to-talk/

I'm quite privileged, in that for the most part I can work around my mental illness with medication. But sometimes it means that in the middle of the day I get in bed and have a cry. Once it meant that I excused myself from a meeting and had a shot of rum under the desk.

(NOT current job!). These are both bad coping mechanisms for me, and good coping mechanisms for 'looking professional when I need to'. Other mental illnesses don't give that leeway, so people may well lash out, or snap, or be unable to function (ie they are disabilities).

Sometimes no amount of 'talking' will do anything. Sometimes lot of the right talking to the right person will, but often that's unavailable. In the meantime people's illness goes untreated & they're offered no help. It is not, in these cases, OK not to be OK. It is hell.

So if you see people having struggles, by all means offer them a twix and a cuppa and a chat. But also scream at the complete decimation of mental health services and fight for the rights of disabled/chronically ill workers. Stop pillshaming. Dont suggest a lifestyle change.

Do you KNOW how much fucking yoga there is on YouTube? If yoga helped WE WOULD BE DOING IT. It is there. Mostly we know what helps, and it's treatment, kept from people who need it due to underfunding. That's the crisis. Not that people don't talk enough.