Mental health stories 2018 – We love hearing about people overcoming mental health challenges such as depression, anxiety, phobias or personality disorders, and 2018 saw some great stories from around the world come to our attention.
JANUARY
Student mental health was in the spotlight in 2018 as high rates of depression and anxiety led many Universities to rethink their approach to treatment and prevention. Emily was one such student suffering from anxiety and panic attacks, which are often made worse by big life changes such as moving away to start University or a new job. But, as Emily explains in her video, she is now loving life at Uni after completing The Thrive Programme course and learning how her mental health works. She feels in control of life and no longer has panic attacks when faced with a potentially stressful situation.FEBRUARY
We’re passionate about young people’s mental health and Ben’s story really made us smile after he took our young person’s Cure Your Emetophobia & Thrive course. Emetophobia is a chronic fear of vomit or being sick and it affects millions of men and women around the world, although it’s more common in the female population. It’s considered hard to treat by many doctors because they rarely understand the causes behind this often-complex phobia. But, as young Ben shows, with the right tools, training and knowledge, it’s possible for anyone to overcome emetophobia. Well done Ben!MARCH
Men’s mental health and depression has also been in the news frequently over the past year but one of our frustrations with media coverage is that it often gives unhelpful messages relating to stigma and talking therapies rather than offering ways to overcome clinical depression. So it’s great to see more stories like Raymond’s, who attests that anyone has the ability to overcome even severe clinical depression despite what uninformed campaigners might tell you.MAY
Sleep issues are a major cause and symptom of poor mental health with roughly half the population suffering from sleep problems in some form, but to suffer from insomnia for two decades is tough for anyone to endure. So we were thrilled to see how Peter had overcome his sleep challenges in just a few weeks with the aid of one of our Thrive Programme Coaches. You’re never too old to Thrive!
AUGUST
With a slew of reports and statistics hitting the headlines again in the summer, we decided to set out a different perspective on the subject – one that emphasises recovery and overcoming issues such as depression and anxiety, rather than living with these problems for years, sometimes decades. Check out the fascinating article below to find out who said: ‘If we had asked people what they wanted, they’d have said faster horses’
The annual season of The Apprentice was also keenly watched by the team as Thrive Programme graduate Sabrina Stocker head to the board room to compete for the coveted top job with Sir Alan. She made it to the final five, only exiting after the dreaded interviews round, and went home with high praise from Sir Alan. Here’s her original testimonial video after completing one-to-one course with one of our Thrive Programme Coaches.
SEPTEMBER
One of our most-watched videos in September was coverage of Thrive Programme graduate Becci appearing on Good Morning Britain to talk about overcoming self-harming. Her bravery and confidence in talking about the subject was refreshing to see and will have given hope to many young people that self-harming can be overcome.
DECEMBER
Just as the weather got really cold and nasty in the UK, Thrive Programme Coach® Lisa Erlandsen undertook a notorious Tough Mudder race, showing amazing resilience as she battled through the race to finish and make the video below. The freezing cold was nothing compared to the warm glow of satisfaction upon completing a big challenge.
December also saw us announce two new Thrive Ambassadors to help spread the message about mental health empowerment around the communities. Welcome, Emily and Marilyn!
We were also really happy to hear from Lynnette, who has Lupus and was struggling with anxiety and poor mental health alongside dealing with her illness. Thankfully, she’s now able to manage her mental health so it works for her, not against, and is no doubt looking forward to a Thriving 2019!
To find out more about the courses used by all of the above people, browse our website or check out our YouTube channel.
Mental health stories 2018
