Clinical Lead, social work and mental health first aid trainer, Leigh explains how the brain works in stress, learning how to manage anxiety and the essential First Aid Training Course for everyone.

Understanding how the brain works in stress helps everyone to consider the symptoms that can show up after intense times of stress. Like most health changes, it is important to see your GP to discuss treatment options.

Think on good. Hello, I'm Judy Hogan. Welcome to think on good. This is the program about the courses and resources available to build a healthy mind. Coming up, according to a recent national ABS study, 1 in 6 Australians aged between 16 to 85 years reported an anxiety disorder in a 12-month period. Today, we learn how to recognise anxiety symptoms and how this may be managed.

First, though, we look at how to be ready for a conversation that may save a life. Mental health conditions often silently impact the lives around us, with some symptoms causing extreme distress, contributing to lack of sleep, less productivity and absenteeism in the workplace. As conversations to check in with others are becoming part of the everyday,

these symptoms no longer need to be left in the quiet. Training work colleagues and friends how to respond in crisis and prevention. Mental health first aid is fast becoming the essential course for the workplace and community groups here in Australia and internationally, to discuss how this works and how it may help you,

we welcome Clinical Lead social worker from mental health services and training and mental health first aid instructor, Lee Fraser Gray, welcome to Think on Good. Thank you very much. Now firstly looking at social work, how did you get involved with this and the first mental health first aid training?

Well this short answer are trauma and DNA. So in terms of social work, I was part of that generation where ADHD wasn't exactly caught. So born in the 70s. What happens is that my brain was different. So it was very easy for me to think that I really couldn't do anything. Social work is practical. I can care for people.

I am pretty bright. I've been regarded as highly intelligent. But the ADHD can give me the impression that my brain can't do certain things. So social work gave me the outlet of doing something practical because I was good at it. I can care for people. I can talk to people. My confidence went up and then I moved into muscle memory.

So it is good to diversify income. Yes, that's great. So neurochemistry, how does that help understand symptoms when you're looking at mental health? Because I'm an accredited mental health social worker. Not all mental health first aid instructors are clinicians. They do vary in background. I bring my clinical expertise to it.

So to understand the brain makes sense to me because mental health is health, but it's not random. It is brain chemistry. So over the years, I've developed my own model to explain that to people. We've got these three main states and those states I call them, um, a state of eustress, then stress, then distress.

It's like a traffic light. If you're in the green and you've got eustress, your brain has enough to function optimum level doing really well if it's in that amber zone, Stress might have come into it. So we've gone from eustress coping buffer, still dealing with stress, but the brain doesn't perceive any concern,

into stress. That's different, so when we have stress hormone in the brain that's corrosive to a brain over time, and it can lead to a tipping point over to the red zone. You know, like your lights, your traffic lights. So we can actually move through those states. And that will have a correlating effect on our mental health.

Hmm. And interestingly, if you're staying in the amber for too long, you're can easy tip over to the red more regularly. Absolutely. Yeah. Now tell us a little bit more about mental health first aid training. Who is it for? Everyone. Yeah, everyone. And that's in the they're PR. So, um, it's for everyone and, um, everyone and anyone.

And it's a triage skill. It's not a clinical skill. It's not unlike physical first aid. It's how to help. Because what can happen is that people can push. For some reason, they undervalue their mental health. And there's a lot of narratives can run around in people's heads that actually prevent them from reaching out.

Learning more, getting help. So if we train a bunch of other people, their peers, you know, people all interact together. That means there's a lot more people on the ground who can actually just have conversations, encouraging people to get help. And we know when it comes to neurological deterioration, mental health issues,

the earlier the better. Yeah, yeah. And it's probably noticeable too, that people need to have those resources at hand know what to do on the spot when somebody is presenting, say, at work. It can come down to confidence and it can come down to dignity. Or sometimes people, well intentioned people, great people who want to help,

they don't want to upset someone else. So they err on the caution of not saying anything. Unfortunately, when it comes to mental health issues, um, if left untreated, in many instances things will just progressively get worse. So the more complex, the more difficult it is in terms of treatment. Yep. And so it's important to be confident to have that conversation and step out there a little bit.

Tell us a little bit about all the conditions that are covered in this course. Starts off generic. So once upon a time the course was a few pamphlets and a couple of hours. It was a grassroots movement and it's still a not -for-profit organisation. So it starts off, nowadays. Sorry, it started off that way. Nowadays it's two days and we do in the morning, get to know each other and create a safe space.

And you look at generic information. So you start that myth busting and people start to get an idea of what mental health is and what it isn't. Um, we introduce a formula. It's called ALGEE. So if you know your physical first aid, do you remember your physical first aid? a little bit? Doctors ABCD yes, of course they use ALGEE and they're simply talking points to help guide people If they're just going to have a chit chat and check in with someone on a genuine level, it gives them assemblance of, well, where to go, where to land and what areas to go into to kind of nurse the conversation over to help seeking. And what are the conditions that you talk about? Um, after the generic, we go into depression and apply the A L G E E and then the second day anxiety, psychosis, which doesn't happen very often, but it's good to bump up people's confidence as to what psychosis is and what it isn't and how to help, then alcohol and other drugs.

Why would we do? Why would we look at alcohol and other drugs? Can you think of that? I'm going to ask you a question. Um, because where you find mental health issues, it's not unusual that people will find self-coping strategies. So your substances go up, which as we know over time is not good for people as well.

Coexisting conditions happen. Yeah the co-morbid. So what happens mental health or alcohol and other drugs. The two kind of fold in together. And you learn also how to help in a crisis. So absolutely on all those levels. Yeah. So this is a great skill and it helps people. You can use it with your friends and family at home, at work.

Definitely can use it at work and then within the community. But just be careful about bystander intervention because this is a person- to- person skill. The more you know about someone, the more it can help. Yes of course. And to apply it, you can apply it on all the different levels. So maybe someone's showing early signs, especially with our young people are really great to get in there early Yeah. Maybe someone has existing conditions and maybe we look at it's getting worse. This skill can help with that. Maybe there's a crisis yet. We can help with that as well. What do you say in that situation? We discuss that when we discuss the A part, the approach it can be I see, I care. I'm worried about you. It can be hard to break the ice. A huge reason why people might step back and notice and think they're acting a little strangely, but I'm not quite sure what to say.

So it does vary. But basically, you bring yourself. Yeah, and encouraging these conversations breaks down the stigma anyway, so it becomes a little bit more normal. It absolutely does. So what happens is that this is why Mental Health First Aid was designed anyway to Myth Bust to destigmatize, get up mental health literacy.

And sometimes I find that when I'm training people, when they exit, they go, everyone should know this. This should just be basic, standard information. Yeah. So looking deeper at anxiety. Yeah. How do you recognise those symptoms? I want to thank you for asking about anxiety because me personally, as a clinician of 30 years-experience, I truly believe it's a little neglected.

And I think it's neglected because people, I'm going to argue as a clinician, I think it's one of those areas where people can kind of fly under the radar. They can privately be nursing anxiety for a long time and kind of hide it. Now, as outsiders, especially if we know someone, we could be picking up on something.

But again, that nervousness on both parts might kind of dull people. I want to start with some good PR about anxiety. You meant to have it. We are meant to have it. Yeah. We have parts of our brain not unlike a computer. Okay, we've got an operating system. Alrighty, So our brain is our operating system. And nowadays, if you've got a little laptop, you've got a device.

It probably has a virus software. Yeah, it's the same with us. Yeah. We have a defence mechanism. Yeah, we have an amygdala and a hippocampus. And they work together because what they want to do, they want to keep us safe. So we need anxiety or there's going to be shenanigans that things are going to go wrong because we can't detect, um, risk or danger.

And then we're going to repeat that. So yes, we all are meant to have a defence mechanism. The thing about brains is once they learn something, they're really, really hesitant to unlearn. Yes. So some of our amygdala, some of our defence mechanisms that they're a little full on. Yeah. Our brains also love dopamine.

Oh we love to feel good. we love it okay. Dopamine is like the Ferrari that turns up in the car park. Yeah. Everyone gets excited about the dopamine. As human beings, we can naturally get a bit funny about the not so nice feelings. Okay. So what we can do is start to avoid. Um, so on one hand, I'm saying, yes, anxiety is quite normal.

We're supposed to have it. It's just that we are not meant to be in an anxious state. Sustained. Yes. Um, we are meant to experience a lot of things. Um, we do need some help. If, for whatever reason, that anxiety is being sustained. Because if you've got stress hormone. Because if you have anxiety, stress hormone will come along.

We're going to leave. Remember that green bit I told you about the green traffic light? The eustress? Yes. because the stress hormone adrenaline, cortisol will be corrosive to a brain over time. We just spend more time in that amber zone. Amber zone has two levels. Did you know that? Two types. So you think about your traffic light.

What do you do? Like sometimes when it's solid amber. Yes. That's like a caution. Yeah we have a flashing one. Remember the flashing one? So human beings are supposed to stay in their window of tolerance. They're not supposed to be overstimulated. So, you know, we can panic attack, or we can be freaking out all the time, or everything's in crisis, but we're not meant to be under stimulated.

And what can happen is that if people learn to override their warning system, that they're anxious for some reason, um, or just worn out at the end of the day, um, that can over time erode those, um, those that warning system, that internal warning system. So what happens is that support resources Information that can help people understand what's going on.

What? Why they're anxious or why they're feeling a certain way. And what can happen is that they can go through a process. For some people, they do not need medication. It could be some information. Nowadays, we have a lot of online resources as well, and that can help people understand what's happening to their brains.

And we can retrain the brain. So, you know, I was talking about an operating system. Sometimes we've got faulty software, we can actually reintroduce. We can reintroduce, you know, new software. And that brain will follow suit. It's good to know that it's good that there's help there. There's support there.

Um, so what is the biggest reveal in the groups that you teach? I'm interested to know that they can help, that they can help. We do go into, uh, intervention, crisis intervention. That includes suicide intervention. That includes helping in a crisis. Um, and routinely, our participants are amazed at how much.

How many resources they have to help someone without being a clinician, right? That's great, isn't it? Just through talking. Yeah. How does it help with groups? It varies. It varies. So I'm someone who's often asked to go to workplaces where ordinarily you wouldn't see a social worker. So I call it,

And it means that all workspaces are responsible. So mental health first aid can be very handy for either all or some participants. That's great. So anything from mining to retail hospitality. I can't think of an area that it couldn't cover. What can happen is that people have choice. So when you're choosing an instructor, you might think about how you want to use it, because I know that I'll adapt for each group and I'll add a like a supervision, and we can have a supervision type approach to it where we can tailor for that particular organisation, because there could be particular themes coming up.

Sure. And absenteeism in the workplace, does it reduce this? It can do a lot of things including that because especially going back to anxiety, it will over time because of the stress hormone it will affect productivity. It will affect how the body functions. It will affect self-esteem and perception.

So if you're talking productivity in a workspace just in general, that that covers the absenteeism. It does go well when people are more in the zone of eustress than they are stress and distress. Excellent. And can you give an outstanding example of mental health first aid support? I find it really difficult to come up with the one.

What I can recall is a 17year-old that came to see me, um, referred by a doctor, and

he was exhibiting behaviour. He didn't he couldn't relate to because he'd spent his whole life at school doing great, feeling great, and he had a particular understanding of himself. He goes into an apprenticeship and everything turns around, and suddenly he's saying things like, I don't want to get out of bed.

And I for some reason, I can't, I can't do things anymore. And my head is groggy. And what's going on? Am I dying? What's going on? And he was very hesitant to talk because no one else was talking about it. And when I simply explained the model that I've introduced you to, he Slammed, he wasn't angry at me, but he slammed his fist on the table.

He was absolutely just disgusted that the academic, his experience at school. His curriculum hadn't included this basic information about how a brain works and what he deduced very quickly, just in one hour was he was in the environment had changed and the stress and pressures on him were different, and it meant he simply needed to adjust.

I never saw him again because that's all he needed. But he was furious, like a CEO. He was treating me like a, you know, he was the CEO of a company. He wanted to know what's going on. And the thing he said to me was, why is the first I've heard of this, so mental health, first aid can actually spread the news of what mental health is and what it isn't, and bring it into the realm of it's quite normal.

We all go through this, it's just that we can all go through things at times when we're stressed and pressed. But sometimes we need more information. Sometimes we need additional resources. Sometimes we need a little bit of time and some professionals and it makes all the difference. It's a bit sensible, isn't it?

It's good that we're talking about it way more than what we used to. Yes. That's good. And for many years you have trained obviously. You've said many, many years in this time, what would you say because of your experience, what would you say to a person who's hesitating, who doesn't really want to let their friends or their colleagues know that they're suffering and they're hesitating to get that help?

It's really normal okay to feel that, because when we aren't feeling the greatest about ourselves, it's a really, really normal thing to do, to get small. It can be a stress response, by the way. And what also can happen is we can get a bit trapped in the vacuum of our own brain alrighty. It's normal. So what we can do.

I would encourage people to sit in with that because there are resources. There are resources out there. It's just a feeling you are acting normally. It's just that there could be some other options out there. Now sometimes we have. It's like dating, like, you know, um, finding the right team around you or the right supports.

We might have to try a few people before we find the right either therapist or doctor or team for us. Yeah, that sounds good. Great advice. Thank you. And before you go, your favourite quote. What would that be? I over 30 years I really have stuck to, we do what we do to get through because the first 15 to 20 years of my career, I turned up where in the worst of worst situations where people were having a, you know, their worst day and some.

And what I noticed was that human resilience, sometimes we do what we do to get through. Maya Angelou tells us that us when we know better, we can do better. So it's a reminder of we don't want to take anything away from you. We're not going to make you a different person. You're not going to lose you. But what we can do is, add to it.

And then what you find is that the result is, yeah, you can know better and do better, know better and do better. That's great. Thank you for your time today, Lee. You're very welcome. Mental Health First Aid is a charity offering various levels of training to help everyone recognise mental health symptoms and equip them with skills for critical conversations.

For more information about the various courses, go to www.mhfa.com.au

today, we looked a little closer at anxiety from the 2023 National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing, with 1 in 6 Australians reporting a 12-month anxiety disorder. Females, just over 21% are more likely than males at 13.3%. 2 in 5 females aged 16 to 24, or just over 40%, reported a 12-month anxiety disorder.

1 in 2 people who described as LGBTQ or used a different term, reported a 12-month anxiety disorder for some anxiety support. Resources to consider. Go to sane.org, the Black Dog Institute or the centre for Clinical Interventions. And check out the Very Well Mind app. Mental health services and training offer prevention, treatment and training.

For more information, go to mentalhealthservicesandtraining.com.au

Think on good is a program offering information for mind health and is not intended to replace medical treatment, professional advice or diagnosis. If you or someone you know is experiencing mental health symptoms for immediate support, contact lifeline on 13 1114. Think on good. We'd like to thank our contributors and sponsors.

Until next time, we hope you enjoy your day.

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