AFTER being medically discharged from the Armoured Corp of the Australian Army in 2002, Nick Sutherland fell into depression and battled anxiety for several years.
As a result of his lived experience with mental health, Mr Sutherland, now a psychotherapist, created Myndfit to educate others about preventing mental health issues.
“There’s a big difference between mental health and mental health issues, and mental health illness,” Mr Sutherland said.
“When we neglect our mental health, that’s when mental health issues will start occurring. And if you neglect those mental health issues, it can become a mental illness.”
Mr Sutherland is coming to Swan Hill at the end of the month to host an interactive presentation about mental health in adolescence.
While the presentation will be about mental health in children and adolescents, the event is geared towards parents and guardians so they can have an understanding of mental health in young people.
“We want to try and have a chat with parents to see if we could help,” Mr Sutherland said.
“While headspace is in many regional areas, we’re trying to be more preventative, rather than waiting to help when people struggle.”
Mr Sutherland believes “prevention is better than cure”.
“When people struggle with mental health, a lot of the focus goes to symptoms rather than the causes,” he said.
Based in the Mornington Peninsula in Melbourne, Myndfit has been catering to clients all over Australia, and is now trying to help younger people with their mental health.
“Our approach isn’t clinical – it’s educational,” he said.
“We’re not just sitting there talking about what’s happening but rather acknowledging how they’re feeling and equipping them with tools and resources to build their emotional intelligence, and self-manage and regulate their emotions.”
Mr Sutherland said Mydfit tries to meet people in regional areas when they can.
He has also had parents in Swan Hill reach out for help in dealing with their child’s deteriorating mental health.
“The child was distressed, lost and confused,” he said. “And the parents were very reactive, which was understandable. But when parents are very reactive, they can stop being a resource for their child.
“So it’s really important that they remain calm. It’s easier said than done not to react to the symptoms but if the child doesn’t feel safe talking to the parents, it could burn a bridge between getting extra support and help.”
Mr Sutherland said conversations and actions around mental health need to be normalised even before a person could start having mental health problems.
“When most people see the word ‘health’ they often tend to think of physical health instead of looking at the whole picture that defines health which includes mental, physical and social well being,” he said.
“I think it’s really important for parents and kids to start having conversations around how health isn’t just physical.”
“If their kids had a physical injury, or illness they would reach out to a doctor for help. The same needs to be done when it comes to taking care of our minds.
“We all have mental health, just like we all have physical health. It’s common sense to look after your health but not necessarily common knowledge.”
Myndfit’s interactive presentation will be hosted at 6:30pm – 7:30pm, Friday, May 31, at Swan Hill Club, 5/17 McCallum St, Swan Hill.
Inquiries about the presentation and Myndfit can be directed to Nick Sutherland at hello@myndfit.com.au
