Nick Mair Opens Up About His Mental Health Journey & Renewed Purpose (trigger warning)

This week I had the pleasure of interview Nick Mair on the podcast.  I met Nick on LinkedIn and was drawn to his authenticity and vulnerability and openness in sharing his mental health struggles.

I often talk about the premise that purpose can be borne from the contrast of our suffering, and Nick is an example of that.

Nick is now a mental health first aid trainer and on a mission to help people not only read the signs that someone could be thinking of taking their life, or be suffering anxiety, depression or psychosis, but to have the skills to be able to listen and de-escalate the situation....as he experienced when I spoke to Michael from Lifeline in his darkest hour.

I didn't know about mental health first aid training until speaking to Nick and being a former Human Resources Director, I now feel urged to invite those who are in positions of influence to consider having your leaders to be mental health first aid qualified, or at best your entire organisation.   When I think about the ripples of having these skills in the work environment and at home, we can really make an enormous impact.

Please reach out to Nick so that we can make a real positive dent together in caring for those around us in a really simple yet powerful way.

Here are Nick's details and what he gets up to

Core offering:   MHFA, MH awareness presentations, men’s retreats, career coaching.

Website:            www.mentalhealthpack.com.au

LinkedIn:           http://linkedin.com/nick-mair-mental-health

Podcast:            https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/themanoclockshow

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00:00 Intro

03:11 I interviewed Scott Osborne and Paul Dunn who have created a foundation called Spoke to a Bloke.  The reason why they created that foundation is because Paul Dunn's brother Nick,  took his life,

04:00 What I didn't know was this person was considering the same as she was listening to the episode.  And what she ended up doing was, as she listened to the episode, she, she ended up writing through her thoughts and feelings.

05:40  I had a pretty dark experience where, uh, I was seriously considering retiring. Ending my life and it was, yeah, very, very, very, very dark time for me.

06:11 In the latter half of my career and thought, I just don't want to keep doing this.  And I was on that cycle.

06:35 I reached out to Lifeline for help because I was yeah, call it quits.   And they were just incredible people.

07:27 I became an instructor for mental health first aid.

09:06 So in 18 months, going from the depths of this pit of excrement of wanting to end my life to wanting to help others change their lives.

09:44 I really want to be able to provide to people that vulnerability and openness to encourage them to open up and and hopefully talk and diffuse that angst that might be there.

11:47 I'm all about now is that purpose driven to ensure that no one feels the same way that, that I did.  It drives me to ensure that people have an element of hope.

12:49 But all he asked me was just tell me more. Yep. Tell me more. Tell me more. And I knew what he was doing.

13:50 A very good quality for someone to have is the ability to truly actively listen.

15:00 There is a huge need for it, particularly amongst men.

16:27 The Palmy Army Club where a bunch of blokes just come together and it's just judgment free zone just to come and talk.

17:52 You called it mental health first aid training.  It's similar to the physical first aid in the sense that it's like a triage for someone that may be experiencing a common mental illness.

19:14 It is an experience that you potentially could have saved someone's life by asking them directly if they are thinking of ending their life.

19:40 We talk about things like depression, anxiety, substance use, and psychosis.

20:53 That element of self care is something that is easily pushed aside.

22:51 Finally finding what I think my calling in life is.

23:47 Here was my best friend in the world, right, right next to me. And yet I was too afraid to ask for help.

24:21 The world would probably be better off without me.

26:05 That's why it's probably easier to chat with a stranger that's a counsellor.

28:48 We're talking about literally potentially saving somebody's life.  That’s how important mental health first aid training is.

29:16 Imagine if mental health first aid training  was what every employee had to do. It would do wonderful things for reducing the stigma as well as just have a open and safe environment that people know that there's people around them that.

31:59 I'm on a quest to encourage organisations to not only have the physical first aid, but have the big green poster saying here are your mental health first aiders.

33:02 If you have the privilege of leading people and having influence on other people's lives, please consider the importance and the impact of mental health first aid training.

35:55 I am lucky to have had that experience because I'm delivering it with a great deal of authenticity and I'm living it from firsthand experience. 

37:51 The Australian Bureau of Statistics say one in five people have been impacted by mental health challenges.

39:39 All of Nick's details are in the show notes.