The importance of raising mental health awareness with Roger Cruickshank

Today’s episode of the podcast is an interview with the lovely Roger Cruickshank who was in the Royal Air Force alongside my husband as a fighter pilot. Roger also skied in the REF ski team and went on to actually ski in the winter Olympics! We talk all about mental health, the importance of speaking about it and raising awareness, and combating the stigma attached to mental health.   KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST  ·     Everything happens for a reason, you just have to let it go and accept it. ·     Acceptance is part of healing. ·     If you don’t really feel it, you will never accept it. ·     We learn more from storytelling and remember information better. ·     Having a clear vision of where you are going and what you are doing, keeps your mind focused on the end goal. ·     We need to set our goals and visions to know where we’re going, otherwise we’re just going to flounder. ·     The mind is very fragile and we have to work hard to understand it. ·     It is so important to normalise conversations surrounding mental health and the way we feel. ·     Creating an environment for everyone where people can speak openly and honestly about their feelings and emotions is so important. ·     We need to speak about mental illness in the same way we talk about physical illness. ·     We all have mental health issues – it is on a sliding Grey scale, sometimes good and sometimes bad. ·     Mental health changes on a daily/hourly rate, the same as our physical health. ·     We need to get better at the language surrounding mental health. ·     You can still hold your own, but tell someone if you are having a bad day and the reasons for that.