Building Resilience: Tomi's Insights on Youth Mental Health

Join us for an eye-opening episode of "Navigating the Chapters of Challenge" as Tomi delves into the critical topic of mental health issues in young people. With her extensive experience working with youth in schools discussing knife crime, bullying, self-esteem, etc, Tomi shares invaluable insights into the importance of maintaining overall health, with a special focus on mental well-being.

In this engaging discussion, she highlights the need for society to take mental health issues in young people seriously, urging listeners to care more and dismiss less. Tomi encourages everyone to invest time in conversations, building trust and providing the support young people need  even when they seem unwilling to talk.

On the 29th of July 2024, in celebration of National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, Tomi's team is taking action by participating in a 10K run to raise funds for their vital work in schools so that young people can hear a message of hope. Tune in to learn more about their mission and discover how you can support this crucial cause. Don't miss this compelling episode that aims to inspire change and promote mental health awareness for our youth. 🌟🎙️ #MentalHealthAwareness #YouthResilience #SupportYoungPeople #NationalMinorityMentalHealth #10KRunForACause

You can send your donations here:

https://justgiving.com/page/mental-health-awareness-week-1714642229662?utm_medium=fundraising&utm_content=page%252Fmental-health-awareness-week-1714642229662&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=pfp-share

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello and welcome to Navigating the Chapters of Challenge with Tele. Today I've got Tomi Adeusi with us and we're going to discuss something that's very interesting and something that needs to be talked about. I'm just going to ask Tomi to introduce herself and we'll go straight into it. So Tomi, say hello to everybody.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Hi everyone. I'm as You have heard, I am Tanya Durfee and I'm pretty sure you are guessing, yes, I am Talay's daughter. And yeah, I don't really know how to introduce myself, but I am a 25-year-old evangelist, I could say that, a creative writer, singer-songwriter, poet, yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 0:59

And where do you work? I

SPEAKER_01 1:03

work for an organization called the Message Trust, which is a Christian organization. And essentially, my title would be called a creative evangelist. So we go into schools to talk to young people about the different topics that may be affecting them. So we talk about resilience and well-being, which is all around resilience. bettering the mental health. And we also talk about life crime and making sure that young people are aware of the dangers of life crime, whilst also incorporating personal testimonies and sharing the love of Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

Exactly. Well done. So you've just told everybody what we're going to be talking about today, more or less. We're talking about mental health issues in young people. And this is something that you have been working on on or working with people about. My first question is this. There's so much talk about mental health, mental health issues. When you're talking about mental health issues, what exactly are we referring to, especially as it pertains to young people?

SPEAKER_01 2:07

Well, first thing we need to start with, what is the actual definition of mental health? Because I think sometimes when we hear mental health, people automatically scream. But mental health literally means It is a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realize their abilities, learn well and work well and contribute to their community. So essentially, mental health, like the same way that you would say physical health, everybody needs to have good physical physical health the same way everybody needs to have good mental health so that's what that is what we're referring to talking about okay cool if we focus so much on what we're eating what we're consuming it's the same way that we need to focus on what are we consuming that's affecting our mind what is our mindset and I think often times when we think when people have referred to mental health in the past we always kind of go to like the polar opposites and think that, okay, cool, if you're automatically talking about mental health, you're talking about someone who may be dealing with schizophrenia, for example. But everybody, because we all have a mind, that means we all need to have good mental health. That means it's something we all need to be aware of, what's actually going on mentally. So it's not something that is neglected. So it's all a spectrum.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

Okay. So why do you think that we're talking more about mental health issues in young people these days? Because if you look back about 10 years ago, it wasn't such a topical issue, but it's become a topical issue now. So why do you think that's the case?

SPEAKER_01 3:53

Well, if we're looking at the shifts in society, majority of our entertainment has become indoors, online. So your mental health is going to take a toll so for example when i was younger you would play outside with other kids so your harm your first cause of harm would be the dangers outside yeah you know that you would fall over you would get injury you would all these different things so the the cause of concern would be infection that's your physical health whereas now Everyone's inside. You don't see kids just running outside and playing with their neighbor, all these different things. That's not really a thing. They're playing on the computer. So now the place that is more affected is actually the mind because that's what we're using more and more often because of the fact that we're inside. So it's definitely more of a cause of concern. And I think it's more of an issue because of the fact that it's not something that we can see. You can't see the brain externally. So you can't see the effects that are happening. Whereas if someone was, for example, again, which it's not as obvious in some cases, but if someone was struggling with, I don't know, body dysmorphia or someone was struggling with their physical image or their weight, for example, if someone puts on weight, you can physically see that there's been a shift. Or if someone's not sleeping, you can see that there's a shift. However, if it's just in the mind, it's a lot harder to see, but there are signs and things that you can pick up on

SPEAKER_00 5:35

as well. So would you say that, or would I be correct in saying that COVID may have made, may have been like a trigger point, may have triggered this mental health issues in young people because we were all stuck indoors. And I think a lot of people, maybe younger people, your age, more or less, were in university at that time and stuck indoors when they should have been going to lectures and stuff like that. So do you think that Could have been something that may be more prevalent? What do you think?

SPEAKER_01 6:04

I wouldn't have called it a trigger that caused mental health issues. I think it was a trigger that exposed the mental health issues that were already there that were going unaddressed. Okay. I think, for example, if someone had a heart attack, for example, and they've gone to hospital and they've realised, okay, cool, this is why you've had a heart attack because your diet has been doing this and this. They haven't noticed the fact that they've gradually been eating these things that are affecting their health until they've had a heart attack. So it was like COVID was like a heart attack to the mind for a

SPEAKER_00 6:44

lot of people. I like that. A heart attack to the mind. I think it made a lot of us sit down and think about so many other things as well.

SPEAKER_01 6:54

So

SPEAKER_00 6:56

why do you think then it's important to address mental health issues in young people? Why is that important? Why do we have to talk about it? I

SPEAKER_01 7:04

think it's important to address mental health across the board. Okay. every every single person whether young or old you need to take care of your mind because the mind is the control center of your entire body you can't neglect like if not you can't neglect the thing that's literally running you essentially um so it's important for everyone but the reason why young people i guess is more of a focus quote unquote is because of the fact that when you're younger there are certain things that can be changed however when you get a bit older it's harder to start making those shifts and changes um the older that you get so it's better to address address these issues when you when you're younger so that you can actually put healthy things in place to make sure that people are actually okay whereas when you're older, it's not that change can't happen. Change is very much possible, but it's more so the mindset of that person that whether they believe that it's possible, because it's going to take work. Whether you're young, you're old, it's going to take work. It's about whether the person who needs to do the work is willing or is knowledgeable enough or feel safe enough to do so. So what we're always trying to do is create safe spaces for young people to do that. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 8:27

So I was just wondering, I read this report by a group called Sanctuary Mental Health, and they were saying that mental health issues is more prevalent in women. Is that something you agree with?

SPEAKER_01 8:46

Oh, I don't know if I agree. Okay. In all honesty, I don't know if I agree. I think men are heavily neglected. Okay. when it comes to mental health issues, heavily neglected. Because if you were to look at the suicide rates of men, it's constantly going up. And I think men have been neglected for too long, too, too, too long, especially in the mental health area. I think the reason why it seems as if women may be dealing with it more is because we may show it more. We may be expressing the outward manifestations of what's going on internally. Whereas with a man, they may not deal with it that way. So a lot of the time, even when you talk to a guy and you talk to them about the way they're brought up, the way that the world even talks about men is, oh, don't cry, don't do this, don't do that. So if a man was genuinely struggling the likelihood that you would see it externally a lot of the times in the way that you think you would see it in a woman you won't see that because again you can't use the same measuring stick for men and women oftentimes men are struggling but the way that they're showing it we we would class it as oh he's just messing around oh he's just being a boy oh he's just being like this oh he's just being like that until it's not oftentimes there's actually something deeper going on but it's just classed as oh he's just being a boy oh he's just being rebellious oh he's just messy like no like there's actually things going on and conversations need to be had but sometimes i think i think society has spent a lot of time and attention on women than it has on men in terms of like emotional mental care

SPEAKER_00 10:42

yes

SPEAKER_01 10:43

so yeah

SPEAKER_00 10:44

Okay. And the thing is, a lot of men don't talk about how they're feeling. Like you just said, they will just more or less bottle everything up because I think over the years, people have, men have been told men don't cry. You have to be a big boy. You shouldn't cry. You know, you shouldn't show your emotions. So I think that's part of the reasons why it may seem as if they don't have any issues when indeed they have lots of issues going on in their minds. What do you think? You agree with that?

SPEAKER_01 11:12

yeah yeah that's what i was that's what i was expressing

SPEAKER_00 11:14

like

SPEAKER_01 11:15

you know if we if we don't give if we don't give boys the room to be boys

SPEAKER_00 11:20

yeah

SPEAKER_01 11:21

and like fully express all of their like all of what it means to be a boy how do we then expect to actually see men like you don't you don't give them the room to be who they are so yeah

SPEAKER_00 11:39

Okay. You were saying earlier on that it does take work to deal with this mental health issues. But my first question, even before we get to the work stage of it, how do you identify a young person? Because we're dealing specifically on this podcast with young people. How do you identify a young person who has mental health issues that need to be addressed?

SPEAKER_01 12:02

Firstly, I think the first thing is that I think people just care more. I think as a society, we've actually, in a lot of ways, we've lost the art of caring for people

SPEAKER_00 12:16

and

SPEAKER_01 12:18

caring beyond what's comfortable for us. If it's not comfortable for us and it's not convenient for us, we won't care. And I think that's the first issue. The moment you begin to care and you begin to be intrigued beyond what's your comfortability or beyond your quote-unquote range, you will realise the signs because young people want to talk to you they want to tell you but the reason why they have a standoff approach is because they've experienced so many people who don't want to listen who don't want to hear what they have to say they actually want to talk to somebody but we don't know how to show love anymore we've become very selfish and it's just like well okay cool not my problem but everyone It's all our problem. And I think ultimately that's where it is. We have to actually care more. Take the time, have a conversation. You hear a comment that you may think is alarming. Oh, what do you mean by that? Can you tell me a bit more? Okay, where is that coming from? Okay, like genuine intrigue. not suspicion, but intrigue, because you actually want to hear them. You're not questioning them to interrogate them. You're questioning them with the desire to understand them, to come to, not to try, because nobody ever, everybody knows what it feels like to be under the guise of someone who's trying to change them or trying to correct them or trying to solve their issue. No young person wants to feel like they're an issue that needs to be solved. They just want to be somebody who is loved. And many times you just have to love people, love people out of the state that they're in. But love requires patience. Love requires long suffering. Love requires perseverance. You have to keep going. You can't say that you had one conversation and they shut down, that you're not going to speak about it again. You have to be persistent past that. For example, some of the young people that I work with, It was not the first conversation that I had with them that they decided that they wanted to open up and have deeper conversations with me. It was just the fact that I asked them, oh, how was school today? Oh, what were you doing? Okay. It's not always going straight to the gun of, oh, I can see that. And again, the person who's asking the questions needs to also humble themselves because no human being can stick to another human being. That's not our role. Our role is to love people. And if And if the person approaching has the mentality that, oh, I'm going, I've seen an issue. Let me go and solve it. Let me go and humble themselves. You've already, you've already, you've already, it's ruined already. It's already ended before it started because you've gone there, seeing them as a problem that you need to solve. And then when you quote unquote solved it, what happens when the next thing shows up? Because it doesn't, it's not solved overnight. You know, it's a journey. And then what happens when they end up in a state that you advise them and they still went and did that? How do you receive them after they make a decision that you don't approve of? How do you treat them? How do you speak to them? How do you respond to them? And that's what helps to walk a young person out of a place that is hard.

SPEAKER_00 15:49

But the thing is, generally young people, I know you've said, you've alluded to that in what you've just said. Most of the times when a young person says, you speak to a young person and say, I'm fine. What's wrong with you? Nothing. So it's very difficult sometimes for people to actually, like you said, persevere and continue to ask the question. So how do you get around that? How did you get around that? I know you said just genuine interest, general interest, but what are the practical steps do you use to break down those barriers?

SPEAKER_01 16:18

The thing is, I'm not, you have to, again, it's the person going in has to not take it personally. Okay. If every response that you get from a young person, you take it personally, if they don't want to talk to me, then you will never go again. Okay. But if you just think, oh, okay, right now they're not in the space to have a big conversation. That doesn't mean you should stop talking.

SPEAKER_00 16:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 16:46

that doesn't mean that doesn't mean you just say okay well they're fine I'm gonna walk away no you keep talking you bring up something else you have like you you just show genuine interest sometimes like the blanket statements of like oh how are you how are you doing like you can't you have to every like they when you talk about marriage right they say marriage is work you didn't meet you don't you don't meet you know your partner or your future partner wherever you are on the first date you don't say so what traumatised you at the age of five

SPEAKER_00 17:24

that's not the first question you shouldn't do that you would drive them away

SPEAKER_01 17:29

that's not the first question that you ask and that is also the equivalent of someone who is going through something hearing how are you doing they're not going to verbally vomit on you and tell you all their trauma they're not going to do that Because they need to know, am I safe here?

SPEAKER_00 17:47

With this person, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:49

Am I going to be received well? Am I going to be judged? Can I actually be myself? If they saw the real me, can I be myself? That's what every young person wants to know. If I can, can I actually, even if I'm acting out, will I still be received? And that's the issue. If you just go straight to the gun of, I want to know, it's that mentality of, I see an issue and I have to solve it. You cannot treat human beings like a puzzle, like a quiz that you have to pass, like a test. You can't because they're intricate. We are intricate beings. Sometimes they don't actually know what's wrong. Sometimes we all have moments where we're like, I actually can't pinpoint why I'm upset right now. but i need someone to sit with me to walk with me to ask me the right questions to actually be intrigued about my day because maybe that that one thing that they say about my day might actually trigger what's going on for me to then actually make a response and saying that's what's happening with me now i can articulate it because it's not every time that you're going through something that you can articulate it and many times these young people don't have the language They don't have the language to articulate what's going on or why they feel the way that they feel or why they see things the way that they see things. But they want to know that they are seen regardless of what stage they're at. So ultimately, it's not about going in with the perspective of, okay, cool, I see an issue. Let them tell me everything right now. Because many times, it's the kid that's laughing at you that's laughing at you, laughing with you, playing jokes, they're struggling the most. So if you make the presumption that because this person is quiet or they don't want to talk to me right now, that they're the one with the issue, you're completely neglecting the fact that if you were to have a proper conversation with the other child and care about them, that they would say things that would be red flags for you and you're going, okay, no, this is something I need to pay attention to.

UNKNOWN 20:00

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

Because every child masks in different ways.

SPEAKER_00 20:04

Yeah. Everyone really, not just children, everyone masks in different ways.

SPEAKER_01 20:09

Exactly. So fundamentally, it's going back to loving people enough.

SPEAKER_00 20:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

Like you said, not just young people. They love people enough to walk with them through hard things.

SPEAKER_00 20:23

Yeah. So what are the most common mental health issues with young people?

SPEAKER_01 20:33

I think depression comes in various different forms. Can you explain that? Like really low self-esteem and just like a lack of identity, a lack of purpose. Identity at the crux of it is where a lot of the issues do stem from. Body image, it still filters into identity. in a lot of ways. But I think, yeah, like, depression has different forms. Like, you can be depressed and you can, you know, be overeating or sleeping roads or dealing with insomnia or self-harming. All these different things could be different facets of it. But I would say the overarching issue for a lot of young people is depression, struggling with depression. And... Stockholm Syndrome, I would say. Sorry, what did you say? Stockholm Syndrome. What's that? Let me get a proper definition up for you. Okay. So that I don't misrepresent it. Okay. Stockholm Syndrome is a coping mechanism to a captive or abusive situation. People develop positive feelings towards their captives or abusers over time. This condition applies to situations including child abuse. coach athlete abuse, relationship abuse, and sex trafficking. If a young person, for example, something happened to them at a young age, but their emotions aren't developed enough to actually capture that in the right way or to translate in the right way of, this was bad, Stockholm Syndrome is very easy to be like, well, you know, it's okay. Like, oh, no, it's fine. It's fine. Like, everything is fine. Oh, wow. or they fall in love with the abuser or the abuse because it's all they know and it feels safe.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

So how would you identify somebody who was having that kind of syndrome? Because a lay person like myself, who doesn't know much about this kind of thing, how would I see somebody and say, this is the signs of Stockholm syndrome?

SPEAKER_01 22:54

Well, ultimately, ultimately, issues like Stockholm Syndrome require professionals everything that we've been talking about like even other youth leaders youth workers I can spot these signs so that I can direct them to the right professional help I am not the professional to deal with it, but I can spot the signs of someone is struggling there. So it's not necessarily about going there and naming, oh, that's that, oh, that's that. It's about spotting the signs of somebody who's crying for help, regardless of what they may be dealing with, because I don't need to know the ins and outs of what they're dealing with. What I need to know is... is this person okay right now? No. Is what I'm seeing and what they're expressing showing me signs of a situation that could be harmful or dangerous? Yes. That's something to raise up and that's then when you start to seek professional help and you build the trust with the young person first and foremost.

SPEAKER_00 24:03

Okay. So kind of like safeguarding them in a way and leading them to the right path for help, yeah?

UNKNOWN 24:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:10

Yeah? Yeah. Okay. But why do you think a lot of us don't like to talk about the state of our mental health? Why is it seen as a kind of taboo? Because it's only recently that loads of people are now going to therapy and stuff like that, but still we have loads of people who won't talk about it or they won't seek help. You've said find the professionals, you send them to a professional or refer them to a professional. But even when some people are referred to professionals, they don't want to go. So why do you think it's seen as some kind of taboo or stigma?

SPEAKER_01 24:50

Because people like the devils that they know. Nobody wants to... People like the devils that they know. Okay. Nobody... Let's be honest, doing the work is hard. Okay. And... And like I said, people like the devils that they know. Sometimes it takes a lot of bravery to get help because if you actually are faced with your issues and you know the extent of how bad you're actually doing, that means you can't ignore it anymore. That means nothing. You actually have to do something about it. And the journey is not smooth. The journey can sometimes be long. Sometimes the journey can be years. Some people never leave therapy ever. And sometimes it's pride and shame. And just the fact that you're comfortable. You don't want to come out of that because it feels safe there.

UNKNOWN 25:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:56

There's almost a safety in that pain because it's a pain that you recognise. But then to feel a different kind of pain, it's not an easy thing and it's a very, very, very brave thing to get help. Very brave thing. Because you're confronting things that some of which you knew were there but you didn't know to the extent or how it was actually affecting you. Because if people were really faced genuinely with what was affecting them, some people won't make it because it's not easy.

SPEAKER_00 26:30

Yeah. Like you said, it's a lot of hard work to actually, because from what I understand in therapy, they would dig so deep and bring up things that you probably even didn't know were there or you've forgotten about, you know, and that could also trigger other things as well. So I guess the fear as well. And you mentioned shame, but why do you think shame is, Why would you think people are ashamed? What's there to be ashamed of? It's your health, isn't it? There's no need to be ashamed. Should there be shame?

SPEAKER_01 27:03

Well, it's like the analogy of a pretty glass, for example, right? A pretty mug. It's beautiful on the outside. We clean the outside. But then when you look inside, the tea inside is rotting. Everybody wants to look pretty, right? Everybody wants to look like they have it all together. Nobody wants to be seen as the person who has a quote unquote issue. Everybody wants to give off this impression that they've got it all together and they're fine and they don't need help. And that's not

SPEAKER_00 27:35

true. We all need help. We all need help. It's funny you said issues. Everyone has issues. There's a podcast I was listening to this morning and the title of the podcast is We All Have Issues. Oh, I have an issue, something like that. I'm thinking, yes, we all have issues that we're all dealing with. Okay, let's move on to faith and mental health. Can a Christian be depressed?

SPEAKER_01 27:59

Yes. How? Simply

SPEAKER_00 28:04

put. Simply put. Okay. Because there is this thing that, okay, I mean, you have faith, you know God, and you know with your faith, with God, all things are possible and stuff like that. And we've heard all of that over the years. So it's very difficult sometimes for people to say, oh, I'm a Christian and I'm depressed. But again, can a Christian be depressed? And you've said, yes, expand on that.

SPEAKER_01 28:31

I think the fundamental issue we have as the church is we don't read our Bible. Fundamentally. Really? Okay. Why would you say that? And I say that's the issue because when we make statements like, oh, with God, all things are possible. What's the context of that verse? What's the situation? What are we even talking about? People use that as even a motivational quote. Where in the Bible and what story are we talking about? We have to put things in context, number one, or else you're going to encourage yourself wrongly. People often use Jeremiah 29, 11, for I know the plans that I have for you, says the Lord. But do you know what the plan was? for them to be sold into slavery. That was the plan for another 70 years. And God told them, hey, by the way, all the prophets that are telling you that I'm going to come and rescue you and that this isn't the plan and we're not going to go to slavery, they're all false. We don't talk about that part. We don't talk about the fact that God's plan was that they were going to be in exile for 70 years. But... they will be freed after 70 years. And some of them that were entering that exile for 70 years will probably die in that exile. We don't address that. We pick and choose bits to try and soothe ourselves when that's not what we're called to do. We're called to meditate on the word day and night. We don't do that. We are not spending enough time because if we actually meditated on the word, we would realize that, oh, okay, maybe that's not the one that I want to use for this situation right now. Maybe that's not the verse that's actually going to encourage me. We have volumes. We have volumes of scripture. We have so much. We have so much that we can draw from. But even before we get to that, look at the life of Jesus. Yeah. It says that we have a great high priest who is able to empathize with our situation. So if we even understand that, if we never go through hardships, what is Jesus empathizing

SPEAKER_00 31:01

with?

SPEAKER_01 31:03

Now going back to the question of can a Christian be depressed, a constant state of being depressed is Now, depending on your mental state, because depending on your situation, your mental state, it always varies. Some people may go in and out of phases of depression. And then there are some people who actually require medical help and that is also okay. Because if we take medical help for our physical body, why are we not taking medical help for our mental

SPEAKER_00 31:36

state?

SPEAKER_01 31:38

So there are some circumstances where medication is needed. But if we're addressing the ones where medication is not necessarily the first, because again, I don't believe in medication as the first point of call. When someone is going through particular issues, I don't believe in that either. but if we're talking about being you're in a place where you are you feel depressed you are going through that state we have a great high priest who is able to empathize with your situation and we have a word that we can anchor ourselves in that if we meditate on it daily that's what transforms us when we when we bring our mind into the when we reconcile our mind into the reality of what we've received through christ that is what can change us. So that's one thing. And two, who are the people around you? Who are your friends? Who are you telling? Who are you confiding in? Because again, like I said, going back to the whole idea of love, if we learn how to love people, people will feel safer to journey these situations with one another. Because we were never meant to journey this life alone. But then when we go through hardship, we think, oh, you know what? I just need to tough it out by myself. But that's the very place that the enemy comes for you in that relation.

SPEAKER_00 32:57

Yeah,

SPEAKER_01 32:58

exactly. We like to keep things in secret and behind closed doors. That's not where it's going to be dealt with. You can't deal with it in that place. You need to shine the light on it. Why? When we talk about... when you shine a light on something, something is exposed. Now, when it's exposed, it's always a good thing because when it's exposed in a place that is loving and truthful and honest, it can be dealt with properly.

SPEAKER_00 33:29

And

SPEAKER_01 33:30

then when we look at throughout the Bible, Jesus has always described as the light. I am the light of the world. So then if we're thinking about it in that concept, Jesus being the light, desires to come into our situation and shine light on these things so that he can deal with them and heal them

SPEAKER_00 33:49

yeah yeah

SPEAKER_01 33:51

and then we are then we are then described as light go forth shine your light in the world we are called to shine our light you do not put a lamp underneath underneath a lamp stand you put it on top

SPEAKER_00 34:03

yeah

SPEAKER_01 34:05

yeah so then if we then having the holy spirit meaning that we carry the the the presence and the person of jesus And Jesus is the light. As people, as his followers, we are then meant and called to exemplify that light in the world. And what does the Bible say? How will they know that you are my disciples by the way that you love? Not by the way that you preach, not by the way that you teach, by the way that you

SPEAKER_00 34:34

love.

SPEAKER_01 34:36

So ultimately, at the crux of everything, how are we loving people? And how are we showing the love of Christ?

SPEAKER_00 34:43

Yeah. But do you think that the church is addressing mental health issues these days, or are they not addressing mental health issues? From the pulpit, I don't think they talk about it from the pulpit, but do you think churches in general are beginning to talk about it? I

SPEAKER_01 35:04

think it's hard to make a... overall statement because of the fact that there's various denominations so I can't say no the church isn't doing this the church is doing this so it's hard to make that statement but I think we are moving in a direction where everyone within the corporate body is starting to become more aware that we have issues of the church and there's a lot that we need to correct and I think that that's a good place to be when we are rather than looking at the world and saying hey you need to be corrected. We're actually going, but we're the light and we've got issues. So maybe we should fix and change our batteries first before we say we want to draw more and more people in to a doctrine that is wrong. So,

SPEAKER_00 35:57

yeah. So I read this quote this morning by Dr. Mark Rackley. I'm not sure I'm pronouncing it correctly, but it says, hope helps with mental health issues. Do you agree? Having hope. 100%. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:11

100%. That's the crux of faith. Yeah, yeah. If we have no hope, why are we here? Hope is literally the crux of our faith. But even if our situations never change, we have a hope. We're in heaven. Because where we're going is far greater than where we are. Yeah. So if there's nothing to hope for... then what even is our faith?

SPEAKER_00 36:46

I was also reading that the way people, the language that people use to speak about mental health is also very important and it has an impact on either helping or making the situation worse. And I was just wondering, is that something that you've seen from your interaction with young people, the way you talk about it with them? Yeah, 100%. Because you go out to give talks about mental health and stuff like that. So when you're talking to them, what's the impact of that? And how do you speak with them?

SPEAKER_01 37:23

Well, essentially, people want to know that you're a person. Okay. So our lessons are less about you have an issue and you need to solve this. We're coming in when we're saying, hey, let's talk about this. What can we do that we can all become more resilient? Not figuring out the person who's struggling with that or this. We're saying, hey, all of us together, we're all on this journey of life. What can we all do to grow? What can we all do to become better? What can we all do to be the best versions of ourselves? What are things that we need to put in place? And we put practical things in there. You're not sleeping. you're not eating well. The things that you eat literally affect your brain chemistry.

SPEAKER_00 38:11

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 38:13

So it's things like that, like actively going, hey, we all need to look at ourselves. Even if right now you're in a great place and everything's going amazing for you, you still need to put things in place so that the day that a trial does hit, you have structures and things in place that you're not going to fall into a place that you shouldn't be.

SPEAKER_00 38:33

Yeah. Yeah. So what kind of, how do we promote good mental health? What kind of things that we should be doing? I know you've talked about eating well, sleeping. What else can we do to promote good mental health?

SPEAKER_01 38:48

Yeah, eating well, sleeping well, exercise, journaling, reading, water. balance and finding what you doing what brings you joy okay because joy like joy for different people is so like you know it's so diverse like it comes in so different things like the thing that might give me joy you must give somebody else joy and it's not always like the big things of oh I need to throw a party it's like oh maybe like I want to buy myself some flowers or I want to cook myself this meal today or I want to speak to this person on the phone today little things that bring you joy. Joy.

SPEAKER_00 39:33

The little things that bring you joy. You also said balance. What do you mean by balance in this context?

SPEAKER_01 39:42

When I say balance, I mean like not living on extremes.

SPEAKER_00 39:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 39:47

Like you can't, you know, be eating junk food today and And then saying that you're doing a keto diet tomorrow. Like you're going to hurt yourself. You have to live a life of balance. Like, okay, cool. Like, for example, okay, for me, I like speaking to some of my friends on the phone. That brings me joy. However, if I anchor my joy in my friends, the day they don't pick up the phone, I'm

SPEAKER_00 40:16

in trouble.

SPEAKER_01 40:18

So it's about having healthy boundaries, having, you know, having a healthy life. And a healthy life is more like, okay, not doing anything extra.

SPEAKER_00 40:28

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. We're first coming to the end of the podcast, but I just wanted us to touch on the fundraising event that you're having soon. So tell us about this and yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:41

So as a department, we are trying to raise more money so that we can offer funding our resilience to schools for free. Because again, as a Christian organization, we don't really want to charge schools, especially for things, sort of things. And oftentimes they do love to pay in, but you know, we do want to be able to serve the community in that way. So we, this month is actually National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month. So we've decided to do a 10K in 70s fitness attire. A

SPEAKER_00 41:21

tanker in 70s attire?

SPEAKER_01 41:24

Yeah, 80s

SPEAKER_00 41:24

attire.

SPEAKER_01 41:26

Oh, 80s, okay. 80s fitness. okay yeah just to just to read around this that you know like keeping yourself moving is also something that is really important um because a few months ago was also mental health awareness month and the theme was movement this year so we really wanted to keep that theme of like okay we need to get ourselves outside a bit more, you know, get yourself having a bit more fun.

SPEAKER_00 41:51

Okay. So what are you going to be wearing? Are you going to share that here? Okay. So, um, if anybody wanted to contribute to this, um, to this, um, charity event, how do they do that?

SPEAKER_01 42:11

So we have a just giving link that would be available. I can send that to you so that it can be embodied via of this podcast. That's literally it.

SPEAKER_00 42:24

Okay. Okay. Okay. We always like to end this podcast on the hope of note. Note of hope. Note of hope. Pardon me. Getting all my words mixed up. Yeah. So what would you like to say to somebody out there? If there's anybody out there who's going through some mental health challenges, what would you like to say to people to just encourage them as we end?

SPEAKER_01 42:49

Fundamentally, every human being desires to know that they are seen, known and loved. And that a person who sees, knows you and loves you more than anybody else in this world ever will, more than yourself and that is Jesus. Try him, trust him, walk with him, it will get better.

SPEAKER_00 43:14

It will get better. It will get better. So try Jesus, walk with him and it will get better. Thank you so, so much Tommy for coming on. I really, really appreciate this and yes, all the information for the charity will be put on the podcast. So if you want to please help out, you can contribute to this, um, um, good event that they're about to do. And, um, yeah, thank you so much. And hopefully you'll come back again to talk about something else with us soon. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Tell me. Thank you. Bye. Thank you all for listening to Navigating the Chapters of Challenge with Tele today. And hopefully you join us again sometime soon for another episode. And yeah, take care and God bless.