Mental Health Action Awareness
Elite Life Skills is a seminar that shows how an individual, group or business can enhance their habits and principles using cutting edge science and philosophy. The system integrates within a the existing framework of the individual or organization for optimal results.
The first step is an awareness of mental health and the tools used to promote a mentally healthy life for an individual and organization go beyond suffering and functioning towards flourishing. The Elite Life Skills are divided into two categories: Personal and Social.
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Personal
Understand the self and the mind. Learn skills and awareness to gain control and be proactive towards one’s own well-being and happiness. Increase one’s cognitive capacities and self-awareness to be in touch with limits imposed by ourselves and the realistic boundaries of one’s growth.
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Social
Learn fundamental principles to cooperate with others in mutually beneficial ways that lead to more advanced social groups and development of its members. Develop an awareness of mental health and follow practices that promote well-being within one’s group and oneself.
Mental Health Awareness
Mental Health
“Mental health means striking a balance in all aspects of your life: social, physical, spiritual, economic and mental. Reaching a balance is a learning process. At times, you may tip the balance too much in one direction and have to find your footing again. Your personal balance will be unique, and your challenge will be to stay mentally healthy by keeping that balance.” Canadian Mental Health Association http://www.cmha.ca/mental-health/your-mental-health/
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Mental Illness
“A mental disorder, also called a mental illness, psychological disorder or psychiatric disorder, is mental or behavioral pattern that causes either suffering or a poor ability to function in ordinary life. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitting, or occur as a single episode. Many disorders have been described, with signs and symptoms that vary widely between specific disorder.”
(World Health Organization 2015)
Awareness
“knowledge and understanding that something is happening or exists”
(merriam-webster.com/dictionary/awareness)
Philosophy
We can begin to see a picture of the concept of mental health and illness on a spectrum. Awareness of the mental health is simply the identification of elements like a person’s functionality or ability to deal with life stressors. If we want to make a difference, being aware of poor states of mind in ourselves and others is not enough. Only through an understanding of the spectrum of mental health can we begin to protect ourselves and those around us from suffering and a life not lived to its fullest.
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We are faced with a problem: those who are suffering are not always aware or understand their state. Many forms of mental illness may not seem like a problem to the person or they have become comfortable with their problematic states. The individual may also not able to openly discussing their issues or receive valuable information from those around them. Let us reach out to those who suffer from their life issues to make a difference in their lives and the social groups that they are part of. In many cases, the nature of the issue prevents an openness to solving it. No mental health solution comes immediately and the individual must grow out of it being a problem.
When one is "mentally ill," their experience is distorted from the 'natural way' the human brain develops. These distortions occur from situational factors, habits, persistent attitudes, personality traits, neurological disorders, cultural and social predispositions, developmental issues, socialization deficits, physiological conditions, etc. The effects of these conditions have a variance in kind depending on the individual. People can feel depressed, overly aggressive, abundant in anxiety, wretched with grief, dependent on poor social groups, disrespected by friends, problems with love, maintaining relationships, not having directed purpose, etc.
Being mentally healthy is not an absolute condition. Mental health is a state, on a spectrum of degrees which includes emotional stability and appropriateness, cognitive rigour, social fluidity, and intellectual ethics in response to situational and environmental conditions. That means that one has to consistently keep in check how our identity and projected self are regulated and maintained to be aware of personal bias, such that we can objectively respond to normal and crisis stimuli.
Understanding
Humans have a tendency to become absent minded, or "zombie like," if they walk mindlessly through their days. I have developed several steps to create and cultivate a healthy social and personal context for human flourishing and mental health: Flow Optimization.
Step One: Awareness
Develop our skills of awareness and observation of ourselves and others. We want to pay attention to the psychological properties discussed earlier; like emotional state, how we or our friends respond to everyday events and people, etc.
The main problems is finding the motivation, meaning and balance between the duties in our personal, social and professional lives. Most of the time, when someone is unable to function within the world, it is because some other element is pulling them from a different world. Whether it be home, work, relationships, family, personal existential issues, religious problems, addictions, meaninglessness etc. we will develop a skill at detecting when we or someone else may be suffering.
Step Two: Social Action
Through action, we move beyond just awareness of good and bad states and do something about it. We all live in a social organism together and simply putting effective effort through caring, listening, talking, emotional support and if necessary, direction to qualified personnel, we can prevent and save ourselves and others from suffering.
Just by making that first step into the unknown, we give ourselves purpose through alleviating the pain of others. Or we develop courage by taking initiative to ask for support or help from someone when we are in need. All humans have the capacity for illness and as long as we protect ourselves from danger or harm, we can only benefit by lending a loving hand to someone in a dark place and bringing the light to our own dark experiences.
Step Three: Service
I offer behavioural modification, principle consulting and training services to people and organizations. I teach how to create a social context that is proactive towards the hazards of mental illness but transcends beyond towards human flourishing, creativity and productivity.
Training modules, workshops and on site coaching to ensure that individuals are able to apply and understand the techniques. First, observing and understanding how the existing social structure is functioning is necessary to identify the weaknesses so they can be strengthened.
If we want things to get better, we will have to accept the nature of change and growth. At first the unfamiliar may not seem comfortable, but after a little time to develop habits and see the results, these new ways of relating to ourselves and others will offer profound steps for anyone who is interested.
See the Services Page to sign up for a free 30 minute seminar which introduces the Elite Life Skills. If you are interested in signing up for the program, you will have a consultation meeting to determine what areas you want to improve and what the cost for the project will be.
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