Kirsty Eaton

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 94 with Kirsty Eaton, who is the founder of Reach Out for Mental Health,

Reach Out are a charity that supports individuals who experience suicidal thoughts and provides a safe, confidential and non-clinical space for you to talk to a trained volunteer about anything which may be troubling you.

She has her own lived experience of mental ill health and it was this combined with losing a friend to suicide that inspired Kirsty to start Reach Out in her local community.

On her journey to starting the charity Kirsty faced a huge amount of red tape and bad attitudes from some very unsupportive local health care organisations and really had to fight just to be able to support the people she knew needed it the most.

We caught up to chat about this process, the push back she got from people working in mental health care and what she did about it.

We also chat about Kirsty’s own mental health struggles, being a natural worrier and how it feels to come to the end of the therapeutic process.

Kirsty and her volunteers are doing incredible things and it was shocking to hear about the challenges she faced just trying to do something as important. 

She has specifically positioned Reach Out to support anyone who might fall through the cracks in the current system and it was awesome to chat about her plans for the future.

You can learn more about Reach Out for Mental Health here: Reach Out for Mental Health – Relief from suicidal thoughts and feelings (reachoutfmh.co.uk)

And follow them on social media on Twitter @reachoutfmh or Facebook @ReachOutFMH

You can listen to my episode on the Reach Out podcast here:  Push Fwd Network Platform | Podcast on Spotify

You can catch up with me at www.propermentalpodcast.com or connect with me via social media @propermentalpodcast.

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If you or anyone you know needs to find support in your local area, please go to www.hubofhope.co.uk

Thanks for listening!