“World Mental Health Day is an opportunity to shout from the rooftops about what our community needs” – an interview with Renew CEO, Nikki Schuster
Today is World Mental Health Day, and this year’s theme is all about access to services. We know that the right support can be life-changing, and we have a firm belief in making that support available to anyone that needs it, regardless of their background or financial circumstances. We caught up with Renew Chief Executive, Nikki Schuster, to find out more about Renew’s counselling offer for the local community, Nikki’s own tips for looking after your mental health and the significance of days like this one.
Why is World Mental Health Day so important to us here at Renew?
It’s important because we’re a mental health charity, so it directly relates to our very reason for being. Since 1904, we’ve focused on the wellbeing of the community, so World Mental Health Day is meaningful because it’s an opportunity to shout from the rooftops about what our community needs – we have over 120 years of direct knowledge and experience of the challenges facing people, so it’s a chance for us to be a voice for you.
This year’s theme for World Mental Health Day is ‘Access to Services’ – how is Renew accessible?
We pride ourselves on being an open access service. If you are worried or concerned about something or think counselling might help you, you can always come along and have a conversation with us. If we’re not the right place for you, we can certainly signpost you to other services that can help.
What changes would you like to see to improve access to counselling and mental health support nationally?
There is no disputing how fundamentally important good mental health is for everybody: for example, for children, in terms of their wellbeing and day-to-day existence, how they learn, grow and achieve; for young people as they are beginning to find themselves and perhaps dealing with things that are challenging.
For adults, good mental health can help us to deal with the pressures of life, particularly nowadays, as we live in quite a divisive society where everyone is angry at something. Looking after our mental health, and having support to do so, is arguably more important than ever before. It’s fundamental to who we are and how we can be in the world. It should be as important as our physical health.
If we’re grappling with something inside, the impact of that is so far-reaching and long-lasting. Not having proper mental health support has implications on all aspects of our lives.
So, I do think the mental health of the nation should be prioritised as something that is as important as the economy or the safety of the country. We worry about all the externals – let’s worry about the internals.
What are some things you do to look after your mental health?
I want to say I take it very seriously and I do a brilliant job, but I am human and sometimes I’m not so great! But one thing I have learnt over the years is that my daily walks are very important to me; they help me clear my head at the end of the day. I’m an introvert as well, so having time to myself is essential.
Friends and family are really important to me. I have a wonderful grandson and spending time with him is very replenishing. I also like going to the theatre and movies. My guilty pleasure is watching Marvel movies – so while some people watch Friends on repeat, I tend to watch action hero movies on repeat!
All these things help draw my attention to something entirely different for a little while, and I think that’s good for your mental health.
What would your advice be for those who are looking for mental health support but don’t know where to start?
I would say to them to consider having a conversation with a counsellor or counselling service such as ours. You might not end up coming in for counselling necessarily, it might be that something else would suit you – but counsellors are trained to listen, to hear what you are trying to say and to help you make sense of that.
I would say if you’re feeling a bit troubled and wondering if counselling is actually appropriate, just call and come in for an initial assessment. Have a conversation. The conversation itself could be enough.
I do appreciate it’s a major step and often we have a lot of inhibitions – we often hear people saying, “there must be people so much worse off than me.” But please remember that everybody is equally important, everyone has the same entitlement to care and support. If you don’t consider the thing that’s keeping you up at night as being very important, please know that it’s as important to us as anything else that anybody else brings to counselling.
Do come along and talk to us, you won’t regret having that first conversation.
This World Mental Health Day, start the conversation
