17/05/2026
This week has been Mental Health Awareness Week and I’ve sat wondering whether to write anything at all.
Because the truth is… my understanding of mental health has completely changed over the years.
For a long time, I would’ve said:
“I’ve always had strong mental health.”
I’d never experienced anxiety or depression.
I was always the positive one.
The “glass half full” kind of person.
But now?
That definition doesn’t quite sit right with me anymore.
Because we ALL have mental health.
And I think so many of us only truly realise the power of our mind when life comes along and shakes everything we thought we knew.
For me, that moment was losing my Dad.
I still remember the panic in my body when his neighbour said the police were trying to contact me.
The feeling through my veins when the officer told me he’d died.
The tightness in my chest when I learned how it had happened.
My whole body felt like it was shutting down.
And what’s always stayed with me is this:
all of that came from words.
From thoughts.
From images.
From what my mind and body were processing in those moments.
That’s how powerful our inner world really is.
It’s why I believe so deeply in doing the work to reconnect with ourselves.
To heal.
To process what we carry.
Not just for us, but for our children too so they don’t inherit wounds we never had the chance to face.
I never thought su***de would become part of my story.
But sadly, it is.
And one thing I’ve reflected on deeply is…
I don’t think my Dad ever truly knew who he was underneath everything life had stripped away.
The stroke.
The divorce.
Losing his job.
Moving countries.
The loss of identity.
The loneliness.
There was never a safe place within himself to come home to.
And THAT is why the work I do now matters so much to me.
Because over the last 10 years, I’ve spent time healing, reconnecting with myself and understanding what truly makes my heart sing.
So now, no matter what life throws at me, I know this:
I will always find my way back to myself.
That’s what mental health means to me now 🤍
***deprevention
