Raising awareness of mental health

#wathupondearne

Latest news in Yorkshire: Published March 19, 2019 02:35:09 PM

Musician and Comedian Shaun Doane and Journalist Adam Oxley have visited
Barnsley College to run a session encouraging students to speak up about
mental health.

Shaun Doane, lead singer of the comedy band The Everly Pregnant
Brothers, and Adam Oxley, BBC Radio Sheffield Sports Journalist, are
both mental health advocates, speaking out and encouraging others to
talk and share their experiences with mental health.

After losing some of his close friends and also experiencing the
struggles that come with a career in the spotlight, Shaun shared his own
experiences with depression and encouraged the College students to talk
about their mental health. Stand-up Comedian Shaun made humour a part of
his talk, along with advice around supporting others and showing the
difference speaking up can make.

Adam spoke to the students about his experiences with anxiety that
started in his early career. He spoke of the importance of listening to
those around you who are telling you that something is wrong even when
you can’t see it yourself. Adam impressed on the students the gravity of
realising mental health can’t be fixed but instead you can learn to
manage your emotions to be happy.

Shaun said: “It’s important to speak to students about mental health as
these people are at the bottom end of a horrific statistic of young men
and women committing suicide. It is so important to encourage young
people to talk to each other and to give them reassurance that they’re
not alone. If we can promote this message to the students and teach them
this early, they can take that forward into their later lives and if it
helps just one of them then we’ve done our job.”

Adam added: “For me, coming into the College has been a great
opportunity to share what I’ve done in terms of my mental health story.
Now that I’m in a role in the public eye and I talk on the radio
regularly people don’t think that this sort of thing would affect me and
I think it’s important to show that that’s just not true. If just one
person in the room has listened and my talk has resonated with them and
they take something away; some advice on how to look after themselves,
then that’s the reason why I do it.”

For more information about Barnsley College’s Health and Well-being
services visit www.barnsley.ac.uk/healthservices call 01226 216 233 or
email HWBC@barnsley.ac.uk

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[tags health, mental, barnsley]