The 5-minute mental health newsletter.

Never Fully Heard is a safe space for men to listen to and engage in open, vulnerable & uncomfortable conversations to help improve their mental health being.

Podcast release date - October 2nd

Here is a post giving an update on the progress of the podcast so far ⬇️

In today's edition

• Meme of the week - Therapy memes

• Self-reflection question - What are your coping mechanisms?

• Article of the week - Men's sheds - The solution to loneliness

• Twitter thread of the week - 5 ways to get what you want from life

It's Sunday, let's go!

Before reading I want you to do four box breaths.

Exhale to a count of four, holding your lungs empty for a four-count, inhaling at the same pace, and holding air in your lungs for a count of four before exhaling.

Repeat 4 times.

🖼 Meme of the week:

❓Self-reflection question ❓

Coping mechanisms 

For this week's self-reflection question, I'm going to focus on a passage regarding coping mechanisms from Mastin Kipp's book on how to work through trauma.

"The root emotion of almost all trauma, hurt, and pain is powerlessness.

Feeling powerless and separate is the cause of addiction, hate, anger, jealousy sadness, war, violence, and unloving behaviour

How well you navigate your experiences with feeling powerless and separate will define your destiny.

Examples of times people feel powerless include:

• Late cravings for food, alcohol and sex

• When you look at your bills

• When you get into a fight with a loved one

• When you find yourself in a similar situation to a past trauma

• Right before a massive transition

• Times of excess stress

• When you aren't getting enough sleep

• When you're getting closer to someone in a relationship

• Right before a major growth spurt in life

• Unexpected events or trauma

• Craving for something you are addicted to"

In the past, when you found yourself in any of the above situations what did you do to cope with feeling powerless?

How did your coping mechanisms have a negative effect on your life?

List 5-10 moments in your life when you felt powerless and the negative ways in which you dealt with them?

📝 Article of the week 

Men’s Sheds: Could the Answer to The Loneliness Crisis Be At the Bottom of Your Garden?

"Officially inaugurated in 2007, the AMSA now boasts of over 1000 sheds around the country and 125,000 members, embodying the motto,

“Men don’t talk face-to-face; they talk shoulder-to-shoulder.”

David puts in this way:

“If you tried to get 20 men, put a facilitator or counsellor in the room

and said, ‘Guys, let’s talk,’ that’s going to go down like a proverbial limp balloon.

But if you get the same 20 men, put them in a room, give them a broken lawnmower to fix and leave and come back in a couple of hours, the few things I can guarantee is that they will have formed friendships, and they’ll be openly talking about a lot of their lives and personal issues. And the third factor in the equation I can guarantee is that the lawnmower still won’t work, because it was totally irrelevant in the first place. It’s just all about creating the environment.”

I love this method of getting men to meet up and connect.

I think this does highlight that the solution for men may be different to women.

I know that's making generalisations but it may not be solved by traditional talking methods but via physical activity that leads to safe spaces for men to open up.

Article

🐦 Twitter thread of the week

(link to thread)

1. Know thyself

2. Pursue curiosity

3. Start a personal project

4. Seek specific knowledge

5. Seek out community

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