A ‘Nice to meet ya’ From Tash
Hey Friends 🙋🏼♀️
Nice to meet ya (hopefully in person very soon)!
I’m joining the glorious Sanctus gang as Partner Development Lead and ‘I’m buzzing’ is pretty much an understatement; surreal is the word that I think describes best where I’m at.
I’ve always had a passion for normalising the conversation around mental health, even before I saw the dreamy things Sanctus were doing. It’s been a topic that’s always resonated with me for one reason or another.
So… where do I start? I genuinely don’t know, so I’ll give this my best shot…
Something my Mum’s always said to me which is ingrained in me is “If someone had broken their leg… think about the time they would need to recover. The sick pay. The sympathy. The flowers and card from the office. The empathy and support from the people around them… the list goes on. Just because you don’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s not real. Mental illness is as debilitating as a physical illness”
What’s my story? Great question. Do I have a story? I would say we all have a story in one way or another. There’s no getting away from the fact that we all have mental health. Myself and others around me have unfortunately experienced low mental health moments. I’ve struggled. My family has struggled. My colleagues have struggled. My friends have struggled. At the end of the day, life can be sh*t and we’re all going to go through times where things are tough.
I had a whole paragraph here banging on about how I have always taken my openness around talking about my mental health for granted. Sure, there is a large element of truth in that. However, I’m actually not finding this whole blog thing very easy and most definitely posting what you’re about to read doesn’t come naturally to me at this point. To be honest — it makes me well anxious.
My mental health has been up and down in my life, for sure. Whether it’s been anxiety, daily battles with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) or depression. Luckily I have people around me that I can and want to chat too … I tell them how I’m feeling and more often than not I seek help to get better. To imagine feeling the way I have felt at times and not having anyone to support me is a situation I literally cannot comprehend.
Due to personal reasons, last year involved one of my downs and was quite literally one of the toughest years I have encountered of my life so far. My leaders in my previous role supported me through this on a personal and professional level when my mental health was at an all-time low. There were times I really just wanted to hand my notice in and run away. I couldn’t hack it. I didn’t have the capacity in my head to focus on work and go the extra mile, which I always so want to do. It was tough. If I’m not working as hard as I can I don’t feel good but it was like my brain physically wasn’t allowing me too because I didn’t feel good… It was a catch 22. 🐣
I reached out to an organisation through the NHS that was recommended to me which lead to a phone assessment and then a face to face. This then lead to me being put on a grimly long waiting list as they felt I needed the more intense version of therapy… makes sense, right?! 🙄
6 weeks later, with no call, and feeling completely exhausted, I got to breaking point and called them in despair…to then be booked in for another assessment call. Unfortunately, this call actually led to causing me to nearly have a panic attack due to the conversation I had and how negative and complacent it was. This was the 4th attempt in my life of trying to seek help for my mental health. I couldn’t do it anymore. I had to bite the bullet and go private — with money I really didn’t have to spare. At this point getting into debt seemed like a safer option than doing nothing at all.
In my previous business we actually partnered with Sanctus so I know them as one of their Superfans (cringe), a Partner and now an employee (still doesn’t feel real writing that.) So yea… I’ve got alllll the answers. 😜
Even though this conversation is something I have been an advocate for normalising for years — actually being a partner of Sanctus at my previous business has given me a genuine insight into the support we create and how crucial it is. Having Sanctus be a part of our culture ensured me to know that the people around me wouldn’t judge me or see what I was going through as a weakness.
To be completely honest I had never actually realised until this year how important support in the workplace is. We spend pretty much most of our time at work and that shouldn’t go unnoticed. Giving me even more clarity and determination to educate and normalise the topic of mental health in the workplace and emphasising the importance of everyone having a constant support system around them. Whether it be in crisis or to ensure you don’t get to a crisis.
I came across Sanctus about 2 years ago now and I was immediately drawn to them, however cliche that may sound. I knew I had to be a part of their journey and mission in some way or another and 2 years later… here I am. Hence the surreal feelings I’m experiencing.
Partner Development Lead… what’s next?
I wanna chat to you. I wanna get to know you. I wanna hear ya story and tell you mine. I wanna partner with you to ensure that everyone is getting the support they need and that one day this horrific stat of ‘1 in 4 people will suffer with mental health’ has dramatically improved because we’re either ensuring people don’t get to that point, helping them manage their mental struggles or we’re supporting them through their journey to the other side.
Lemme know if you wanna have a chat — alwaaays keen.
Be kind 💛
Tash x
