HELPING A FRIEND

Like I talked about two weeks ago, helping a friend in need is a precarious process. For today’s post, I’m going to talk a little bit about what to expect when you’re helping a friend through a long, tenuous process.

Expect to be emotional: Knowing you care enough about someone to be involved in their mental health journey means you’re emotionally invested in their life and well-being. This process is not only going to be hard for them, but also for you so make sure to keep the Kleenex nearby.

Expect to grow: Even though the stigma around mental health is lessening with every day, it’s still there. People still don’t like talking about it, so there’s somewhat of a lack in public knowledge. Even if you’d consider yourself well aware of mental health problems, maybe you’re even on a journey yourself, I promise you you’ll learn something by helping a friend that you never thought you’d know. Maybe it’s something about their life, maybe it’s something about your life, or maybe it’s something about science and the brain. Either way, prepare to be learned.

Expect awkwardness: Most people don’t like talking about their problems, and mental health problems can be a doozie. You can’t expect a friend to always want to or be open to talking about it, and you also can’t expect deep conversations to always be easy. I promise you there will be times you won’t know what to say or do, and that’s ok! Even professionals don’t have all the answers. What matters is that you’re there for them.

Expect joy: Helping someone get healthier in any aspect is a rewarding process let it be physically or mentally healthier. Watching someone you care about struggle is always hard, so to see them make any kind of progress is so joyous-especially knowing you were right there along with them in the process. There will always be ups and downs in anyone’s mental health journey, so you always have to make sure to enjoy and celebrate the ups!