Discovering yourself and your talents

Many people have found that mental illness has been the beginning of a challenging journey of self-discovery. They have found it important to learn their own limitations and their own attributes. Talking therapies has helped many people to achieve this. It is also important to set realistic goals for oneself and not to lose sight of these. To achieve these goals, people have learnt to be organised.

Working out individual strategies to deal with stress is another important way in which people have discovered more about themselves and their identity. As is finding a complementary therapy that seems to work for you. Different things work for different people, but examples are nutritional therapy, the alexander technique, art therapy, reiki, aromatherapy, meditation and massage.

People have also discovered their creative side, by taking up painting, or sculpting, writing poetry or playing music. Mad for Arts run a website which celebrates people’s achievements and which gives everyone the space to talk about the impact of art on their mental health. You can create a personal studio on their website, where you display your poetry, images of your painting or drawing and discuss works of art which you particularly like. The website also lists exhibitions and events of interest. You can find it at www.madforarts.org.

Many people have learnt new skills, whether these be practical skills like cooking, budgeting, self-care and shopping or interpersonal skills like communication and assertiveness. Many people have found that these skills have helped them in their
relationships with health professionals. They have felt empowered by being able to challenge health professionals and communicate with them more effectively.