Have you ever wondered how to help someone without a mental illness to better understand you and your mental health struggles?  Have you ever tried to talk to someone close to you about how life looks for you and how they can help you deal with the normal day to day aspects of life?  Well, today, we’re going to talk about exactly this topic.   Peter, Rebecca's husband is our guest for this chat. He helps us understand being a spouse of someone with mental illness and all that entails.

Key things to remember when dealing with loved ones who have mental illness:

• Empathy and validation - listen without judgment; try putting yourself in your loved one’s position

  
  



• Never tell them or encourage them to “try harder to get better” -they are probably already trying as hard as possible to get better and will probably tell them inadvertently that they are failing in what they are doing for their mental illness

  
  



• Support them 

  
  



• Be patient

  
  



• Don’t take things personally