13/05/2026
This Mental Health Awareness Week, Gill highlights how she maintains her mental health:
"As a mental health first aider, I've learned over the years the importance of wellbeing and self-care, especially my own self-care. It's especially important if you're going to be supporting somebody who's experiencing poor mental health. You can't help them if you're not in a good place yourself.
Like a lot of people, I experience stress sometimes, and that stress has to go somewhere. If it starts to overflow, I need to open the taps.
So what can I do about it? Well, I can look at things on the 10 Keys to Happier Living poster and pick out some of the things there, like direction and meaning. But personally, I like nothing more than spending time with my family, my five grandchildren and the rest of the family as a whole.
We've recently got a new puppy, so we're busy training her to be the best dog she possibly can. And she is a real joy, very mischievous, but she also likes to be out in nature. So you'll often find us standing down at the pond on our local green, just standing up at the fence watching the ducks and the fish go by.
I also like looking up at the sky. I don't know whether this is a morning or evening, but I like both. And I especially like nighttime when the sky is clear, and the stars are out. I like to just sit and ponder about what other life is out there. Other things I like to do are listening to podcasts, whether it's a scary one or a comedic one. And when I do get the chance, I like to visit the theatre.
I'm not only a mental health first aider, but I'm also an instructor, which means I get to teach other people who wish to become a first aider. And on our course, we talk about the impact of wellbeing and self-care on yourself. LighthouseSafety do teach some of the mental health training courses. We do the two-day first aid plus the half-day refresher, which you take after three years, and also the mental health awareness.
If anybody is interested in booking onto one of our courses, please do get in touch. Details are on our website.
https://www.lighthousesafety.co.uk/training-courses-2/mental-health-training/
