How mental health is like a tree

People who suffer from mental health these days are getting what help they need more than what they did back a few years ago because mental health is being taught in schools, colleges and you can now even study about all kinds of mental health in university. 
I am currently home studying mental health and well-being for young people so I can then continue onto into my future to become a mental health nurse. Well, that’s what I hope to do anyways! 

So how is mental health like a tree? Well, let’s begin with what my mind has thought of. I see mental health always has a base so that’s the stump of the tree, the beginning. So that’s when you can begin to study what the person has suffered with and how it started to affect them like either in school when being bullied or some problems at home with parents or family members. 

Next is the trunk so this is where the type of diagnosis can be studied more and then find out what help you can offer the person who is suffering. So when I was diagnosed with bulimia nervosa I was offered this type of help; 
http://www.anorexiabulimiacare.org.uk/
                                                              https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/
                                                              https://www.betterhelp.com/

They are just some of the helpful websites I visited when I was going through such a tough time and these gave me some of the best advice I could hear. 

So, carrying on with the whole tree subject, next stop is the branches. Mental illnesses can come in many forms, such as; Bulimia Nervosa, Depression, Anxiety and Borderline - personality disorder.  
  Each of these illnesses can affect the person who has been diagnosed with the disorder differently. Each person is unique in their own way so that’s why the illness affects everyone differently. 

When the branch of a tree makes its own route this is when the illness travels the person’s mind and makes its own discovery on how the person’s brain works. Then the illness can work against the brain and make a battle between them both. So that’s when the mind gets very confused on to what is actually going on which then makes the person confused too! 

The mind is at war with the illness just like when a tree is in a bad storm and lightning strikes the branch and that causes the branch to break off and lose the connection it had to the tree. 
The right help and advice would help you win this war against mental health and help you to make a full recovery! 
Some websites and places that helped me find out more about my mental illnesses and just helped me take the right step forward were these;     

•  https://teenagerswithexperience.weebly.com/ - I really found the articles that are published on TWE very informative & helped me realise how many other people that suffer with the same illnesses that I have.
  
• https://www.mind.org.uk/ - I found Mind helped me out with dealing with my mental illness around loved ones and it also gave advice on how my family and friends could help me towards recovery. 
  
• https://youngminds.org.uk/find-help/your-guide-to-support/taking-control-of-your-treatment/ - this part of the young minds website helped me to deal with my health alone. It also guided me on who to contact for further help. 
  

-Mel

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