Episode 13: Managing Your Mental Health
Hello, I'm Jessica Samuels, welcome to A Way Forward presented by Beam Credit Union. I'd like to acknowledge this podcast takes place on the ancestral, traditional and unceded lands of the Okanagan Selix people. Today, CEO for CMHA Kelowna, Mike Golick and I are going to talk about managing your mental health. We're going to share some practices and some everyday things that you can do to help support your mental health. But we're also going to talk about why they help.
Jessica Samuels:Mike, this episode is all about the things that we can do to help ourselves feel better. And some of this may be points or ideas or actions that people already know about. But also, they might be things that that make people feel better, and they don't know why it's making them feel better. And so we want to dig into a little bit that and hopefully give some ideas and tools in the toolbox for folks to better manage their well-being. Think off the top, though, I do want to spend a bit of time in talking about the difference when we say talking about managing your mental health and managing your mental illness.
Mike Gawliuk:Yeah, I think well, off the top, when people talk about mental health, I think that's oftentimes confused with mental and not necessarily clear on a definition. Mental health is like physical health. We all have it. It's a thing we all possess. Whereas a mental illness is a diagnosable condition that impacts our mood, behaviour, thoughts.
Mike Gawliuk:And so they're two different things. And if you consider mental health as something everybody has and we look at circumstances, it's on a continuum. So we have mental health and we can flourish or we can languish with mental health. And that depends on what's going on in our world. So if I have a really, really tough, stressful week, I'm experiencing mental health, but I'm languishing a little bit.
Mike Gawliuk:I don't have a mental illness per se. I'm just having a really tough week, and I probably need to do some of the things that we're going to talk about later to help myself. On the same level, if you look at mental illness, just because someone is diagnosed with a mental illness doesn't mean that their mental health isn't flourishing. It could be that they're, you know, again, going to therapy, taking their medication, doing all the things that they need to do to take care of themselves. So for me, that's the distinction.
Mike Gawliuk:Everybody has mental health. Not everybody has a mental illness. Ultimately, we can flourish with a mental illness or without.
Jessica Samuels:Right. And I do like repeating that. And one of the things that I appreciate about this is that I think it drives home the point that you have to take care of your mental health. I think some folks may think whether or not they have a mental illness, you know, just mental health is something that happens to you. And that helps really drive point the home that you you have some control of ways to better your mental health and well manage.
Jessica Samuels:And that's really what this episode is about. We like to feel or to give people ways to feel empowered, like they're in control. Maybe in a world where so much is out of our control, let's try and gain some control over how we're feeling about ourselves and the world around us.
Mike Gawliuk:For sure. I think it's easy to understand when we put it in the context physical health. We know the things that we need to do and some things we can do to help with our physical health. And some overlap, whether that's diet and exercise, those kinds of things. It's the same with mental health.
Mike Gawliuk:It doesn't just happen. And there are things that we can do to ensure that we have positive mental health. Right.
Jessica Samuels:Yeah. Okay, we're going to get into those things. And then just one other thing before we get into those things, because this came up in the research and I had a bit of a learning. So there's like this phrase, this buzz phrase, and I'm going to say it at the risk of like eye roll or maybe cringe, but like it's a self care piece, right?
Mike Gawliuk:Are you talking about bubble bath?
Jessica Samuels:Well, I am, but I'm not. But I am. And I say cringe because I will admit to being like, oh, self care, bubble baths, you know, really what's their place in the world? And how is this really going to make people feel better? What I did come to understand is that there's kind of this self care, self soothe, push and pull.
Jessica Samuels:They both have their place. One does not replace the other, but they both have their place. So let's talk about self care, the definition of self care.
Mike Gawliuk:Yeah. Well, first of all, self care, despite your perception, is not necessarily self indulgence or selfish. Really, it boils down to, it's about taking care of yourself. It shows your importance and you're worthy. And it's really how do we take care of our physical, emotional and environmental health?
Mike Gawliuk:And on the other hand is self soothing. And I look at it from the standpoint of sort of self soothing is sort of what we do right now if we're having a tough time or we have distress, that sort of thing. And it can be a positive activity or it can be something that might be harmful. And so one of the questions is if the thing that I do right now makes me feel better, it's likely self care. If afterwards I feel the same or worse, it's an act of self soothing.
Jessica Samuels:Okay, I'm just going to spend a bit of time on this because when we're talking about self care and you said it was great and definitely a learning and a reflection for me, it doesn't mean self indulgence. It doesn't mean you're selfish when we're talking about self care. But then, you know, I guess part of the problem that I have is, well, then why isn't that just an excuse for me to go over and do whatever the heck I want if it's going to make me feel better, if I think it's going to make me feel better? And that's the line that you're talking about. If afterwards I feel better self care.
Jessica Samuels:If afterwards I don't feel better, I feel worse or the same. Not self care.
Mike Gawliuk:Yeah. If if, as I said again, I've had a tough week and at the end of the week, I I'm you know, my mental health is on the other side. You know, if I decide to go out and hit the bar and, you know, have a bunch of drinks and get intoxicated, I want to feel better in the moment. When I wake up tomorrow, probably not going to feel as good.
Jessica Samuels:Right.
Mike Gawliuk:And so that act is really dealing with the situation in the moment and it has negative consequences. So it's not to say that self soothing is necessarily good or bad unto itself. It's to say the choices that we make to self soothe, some can have ramifications that aren't not necessarily very healthy.
Jessica Samuels:Okay. So I'm unclear about the bubble bath. Is that self care or
Mike Gawliuk:self soothe? Well, let's ask. Are the is are the bubble baths part of like a routine that happened like on a weekly basis? Oh yeah. Or is it something that happens on an evening because you've just had a had a day and you know you just need to get in the tub, light a few candles and feel better in the moment.
Mike Gawliuk:Okay.
Jessica Samuels:Okay. See, Okay, I appreciate that. I do want a bubble bath right now. Yeah, yeah.
Mike Gawliuk:Yeah, myself as well. Sold. Done. Exactly.
Jessica Samuels:All right. On to some other tips. And before we started this episode, you said to me, shouldn't we just call this Jessica, go outside? Because as we well know and I've expressed a few times, I need to go outside and usually have some exercise to go outside to get rid of the angst, anger, stress, low mood. Not uncommon outside.
Jessica Samuels:And there's a reason behind it. Outside makes us feel good.
Mike Gawliuk:This is this is either the episode where Jessica goes outside and or the episode of things Mike should do more of. So absolutely being in nature has been shown to have, you know, really positive mental health impacts. Whether that's a matter of putting your feet in the grass or in the sand, what happens is it allows us to actually be involved in something that's bigger than ourselves. Like there's a big world out there. We go hard, you know, and we're on devices all the time, that kind of thing.
Mike Gawliuk:Getting out there and having those experiences, being able to, you know, listen, whether it's to birds chirping, different sensory experiences, those things that we see really have an impact in terms of reducing our stress hormones and making us feel better. So it's been proven certainly scientifically that getting out into nature is absolutely one thing that you can do that is going to help you to manage your mental health. And we have certainly at CMHA, we have a course called Discovery College. And one of the episodes, I think actually we have two now, are specifically around mental health and nature. And it's online, people can join and certainly participate and then again, take some of the ideas and put those into practice in their own world, in their own lives.
Jessica Samuels:Right. And the other part of that as well-being outside. Two things I wanted to mention on that, you know, we may have I've heard instances of doctors prescribing that, you know, the nature prescription. I don't know the scenarios or or kind of the full details, and I'm sure it's part of a gamut of things that are shared. But it goes to speak what you're saying that there it is scientifically proven, as well as for me, the other part of being outside is exercise.
Jessica Samuels:Yeah, like that exercise piece, whatever exercise looks like for you as an individual also does really good for our mental health.
Mike Gawliuk:Yeah, I mean, certainly some of the research on exercise just talks about the release of endorphins, which are painkillers and mood boosters. So exercise and exercising is going to release those. So you're going to feel better. Exercise leads to people feeling better during the day, sleeping better at night, having sharper memories. Need to exercise more.
Mike Gawliuk:And so exercise is a great way to manage your mental and obviously your physical health.
Jessica Samuels:Okay. Another one that I'm a big fan of and two examples kind of put together because I think they are tied together is volunteering and connection, social connection. So those are volunteering supports your mental health and having connections supports your mental health. And you can talk a bit more about that.
Mike Gawliuk:Well, you know, this one comes back into some of what we talked about around loneliness. Right. And I think actually one of the themes that has run through a lot of the episodes is that notion of social connection. So volunteering certainly can achieve that social connection that people are looking for, help them to reduce their loneliness and helping feels good. So volunteering as an activity really addresses both of those things.
Mike Gawliuk:And when I looked at some of our research and was listening around the episode, people around the pandemic actually started to talk more and more about wanting to volunteer because, again, one of the many things during the pandemic we had to do sort of was a prescription for poor mental health was again that social isolation and those kinds of things. So that's really where people started to see more talking about volunteerism and opportunities to reengage and socially connect. So it's a great way to do that and to give back.
Jessica Samuels:And that volunteering piece. Giving back, contributing, feel like you're making a difference, feeling like you're useful, like you have some kind of purpose. And that, again, ties into kind of that loneliness. Perhaps if you're an individual who doesn't have family members close to you or you're the surviving family member feeling like you there's a purpose to why you are here. So those are some really tangible reasons why volunteering and then leading to connection support our mental health.
Jessica Samuels:Also having a pet. This is probably not going to be a surprise to some folks because you ever bring a puppy into an office or dogs into care homes. People do. There's that feel good moment. But the reason I want to bring it up is because it is actually determined to be something that actively supports your mental health.
Mike Gawliuk:Well, first, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Foundry. And when we first opened Foundry, one of our generous donors donated Henry. And Henry is the Foundry dog, basically, and he's been there from the beginning. And yeah, you can see the impact of Henry in that case, in particular with youth that are maybe coming in the door for the first time, maybe experiencing anxiety issues. Certainly pets have been shown to have a really positive impact for people that may be experiencing autism or ADHD, the things that pets bring.
Mike Gawliuk:Some of that is, I mean, when we look at sort of tying some of these things together, Mike has a dog. Mike's got a companion. Mike needs to get out and walk that dog. So there's an opportunity there to get some exercise. And one of the things actually noted, I'll go back to being outside and being in nature.
Mike Gawliuk:One study found that seventeen minutes a day is enough time in nature to have a meaningful impact on your mental health. So I think my dog Jackson, he's getting a little up there in age, so seventeen minutes is probably going to be two walks. But it's really cool to know that. And then pets, and obviously I'm biased because I have a dog, they also model and give unconditional love. How can that feel bad?
Mike Gawliuk:Right. So owning a pet has multiple impacts on mental health. And the other thing is mindfulness. Talk about pets live in the moment. So being in nature, being being out with the pet, going for a walk and sniffing around, doing their thing, we could learn a thing or two from them in terms of being mindful and maybe being mindful along the way.
Jessica Samuels:Pets can be a lot of responsibility and they can be onerous and expensive. So not everybody can own a pet. And that's why volunteering with pets or volunteering for organizations that look after pets can also be a way of the volunteering, the pet connection, and also making connections in the community. So once again, you kind of have a trifecta there of supporting your mental health.
Mike Gawliuk:Yeah. Bringing it all together.
Jessica Samuels:Right
Mike Gawliuk:now, I wanted to flip it to you because I know you identified these as a couple of your go tos. Oh, so here's my chance to ask you a
Jessica Samuels:little bit
Mike Gawliuk:about these two. Kindness and gratitude and how they impact on people's mental health.
Jessica Samuels:Yeah. Well, I mean, so first of all, there's the research and there's the findings. You've got all the good stuff that we've mentioned earlier in this conversation. You've got the serotonin uplift. You've got the endorphins.
Jessica Samuels:You've got the dopamine that not only you experience in your body when you are practicing kindness or gratitude. But I can only imagine for the person who's receiving it also, you you hear about that pay it forward. There's that part of your paying forward. And for me personally, I really think that after pandemic, just really making an effort, I have really made an effort to go out of my way to show kindness and gratitude. I think from my personal experience and what I witnessed, I feel like there's a lot of frustration.
Jessica Samuels:People were uncertainty. We all didn't know what was going on. And that has carried over. And we've mentioned that a few times on this podcast. So to put it simply, I feel like people are really frickin angry out there and short with people in the world.
Jessica Samuels:And I make it my mission to just take a beat, give people some grace and act with kindness and gratitude. Sometimes it's harder than others. Then I feel good. I feel better. I feel I haven't gotten that fight or flight mode going on in myself.
Jessica Samuels:I feel like I've done the person a kindness because I don't know what's going on in their world. I don't know what they've dealt with before they've come to me or what they have to go back to. And so even before I knew the science behind it, this was something that I actively and continue to actively try and practice. And I think it does really good things for my mental health and hopefully for the people that I pay it forward to.
Mike Gawliuk:Absolutely. I mean, your experience is backed up by some of the research that we looked at. A lot of times when we talk about stats, mortality comes up. There was one study actually where they identified that people who practice gratitude have increased mortality by nine percent. I don't know how they measured it, but it actually has that much of an impact on the individual.
Mike Gawliuk:When it comes to kindness, another study that I listened to was about looking at three groups of people that had mild to moderate anxiety and depression. It was a research study, and one of the groups was to engage in acts of kindness. One of the groups was encouraged to engage in fun activities twice during a week. And this harkens back to our counseling episode. The other group was provided with cognitive behavioral therapy.
Mike Gawliuk:And then they measured the impact of all three of those. And they actually identified that the one that had the most impact for the participants was the acts of kindness. And that's huge and super meaningful. There's no doubt about that.
Jessica Samuels:Yeah. Well, I'm glad it's backed by science. If I can't be gracious or kind, that's when that's when I go for the walk outside with my dog. Deal. Okay, Mike, thanks.
Jessica Samuels:Thanks. This was a fun one. I appreciate it, and I hope folks appreciate it too.
Mike Gawliuk:Thank you.
Jessica Samuels:Okay, so we're going to have all of those tips on the A WayForward podcast page, presented by Beam Credit Union. Of course, that is on cmhacolona.org. And just remember, as you go forward, be gracious, be kind. And as always, please do take good care. United has won.
Jessica Samuels:Beam's founding credit unions now serve 190,000 members across BC.
