layout: true background-image: url(../../images/slide_background.jpg) background-size: cover class: middle --- # Asking for help and support ### Medium Quotes --- ### “… people need to ask as well. Communication is a two way thing, you need to communicate when you’re in trouble and need help. It’s easier said than done, I know. People with mental health issues, they tend to keep it to themselves. But before they get there, ideally they should be talking.” --- ### “BVA are doing more now about raising awareness and doing wellness surveys. So Just raising awareness is key, and getting people to understand that it’s not normal to feel like this and you must try and get support – it’s not a weakness. You need to look after yourself.” --- ### “… acknowledgement that you are ill, like breaking a leg or having the flu. Treat it as a normal everyday occurrence and that you’re not a looney or weak. It’s breaking the stigma – go and see a counsellor just like you would make a GP appointment.” --- ### “Failures and mistakes. We missed a pregnancy, and coming back we talked through it with the team here. We have a very supportive team that we can go back to and say, “this has happened”. And asking for experiences so that I can align what I do going forward with everybody else and having support “ --- ### “For me it was always knowing I had someone on the end of a phone. Acknowledging the fact that I could always call and say I don’t know what I’m doing and be a bit worried that this situation is happening.” --- ### “The challenge is getting the access to that (support) in a way that you don’t feel you’re being categorised. It would be a case of having easy access to it. I’ve known a few people who have not been in a great state but maybe don’t appreciate it, don’t admit it, or don’t want to talk about it. If there was a way round it, where they don’t have to be quite so open about it to get that help, it might be useful.”