Hey everyone. How are you all doing? I hope you’re all well and good and enjoying mental good health. Today, I’m going to talk about something that I should have been doing earlier with people – rather than just starting this year – but I’ll explain how I got to this point.

Over the last fiver years or so, I’ve got to know a man called Steven Thompson. He’s very good at social media, and has given me advice on how to do things with it which I can’t thank him enough for. Steven started a live Facebook chat called Mental Health Monday, in which he would talk all things mental health. Some weeks, Steven would have guests on, and discussion would follow in the live chat.

Sometimes there would be a technical glitch – that always used to make me laugh and smile. At the end of the chat, Steven suggested we go and check in with people we hadn’t heard from for a while, to see if they were OK, needed anything or were struggling. Taking part in Mental Health Monday I used to feel useful, recharged and would check on five people I knew, as well as get others to do the same thing.

This year, a celebrity called Roman Kemp made a documentary called ‘Our Silent Emergency’. It was aired on the BBC, and in it he talked about mental health struggles and the loss of his best friend, who took his own life, who was one of the producers of his radio show. Roman also talked to a group of young lads from Ireland. They’d lost their friend to suicide and they talked about how they now check in with their mates more to see if they’re alright.

It doesn’t take much effort to ask someone if they’re OK; if the answer you get back doesn’t reassure you, ask them again how they’re feeling. I can’t stress enough how important it is that you can watch this documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLI3nk1Zsqk.

I really can’t thank Steven enough for doing his bit for mental health, and I cant thank Roman enough for his video. It’s changed the way I ask people how they feel, and we need to get his message out to everyone.

Thank you for reading. I wish you all good mental health and remember – ask twice. Please let me know how you get on.