I just wanted to write a few words about mental health at the moment, or should I say the majority of peoples poor emotional health in the current climate.

I am working with so many people who are really struggling and cannot understand why.

If we look at what has been removed from our lives over the last few years due to the pandemic, there has been a great amount of loss and loss is the same as a bereavement without someone dying. Do not underestimate the impact on your mental health of not being able to:

Visit loved ones

Dance

Listen to live music

Have a birthday party

Eat cake with your older children to celebrate

Have university lectures in person

Chat in the office on your break

Feel the warmth of the sun on your body

Go on holiday

Touch and embrace loved ones

Travel

All of the above release oxytocin this is a chemical produced in the hypothalamus and released by the posterior pituitary and it plays a role in social bonding and this has been a part of our lives that has diminished through our need to keep a social distance.

So I say to all my clients we have good and we have bad, physical and mental health, ask yourself what are you doing to work on your mental health today. Each day you need to do small tasks to work on your mental health in order for it to maintain a state of well-being.

Think about what has been missing in your life of late and how can you now try to implement a way to bring more of it back in to improve your emotional well-being.