Mental health and the 5-point NADA Protocol

Grab a cuppa-something and curl up with a powerful perspective as I navigate mental health!

So I had this conversation with my almost 9 year old the other day. I could see he was struggling with something and I knew I could help, but rather than just butting my nose in and telling him what to do and how to do it, we talked about 3 words in the English language that might be the hardest to string together, let alone say out loud! 

I need help.

I asked him if he knew what I do for a living, and he said ya, you help people, oh and stick needles in them. I said, yup, that about sums it up. So if you need me I’m here to help you too. Sure enough, in his own time he came to me and said those 3 words that put into motion great calmness and clarity in his little 8-year-old mind. We smiled and hugged. He was now armed with vocabulary to help him in his situation, strength in knowing I was holding space for him, and a roar of fierce independence that he can hold his own ground when things get tough. 

Whether it’s you sitting down in my chair or me visiting my health-care team, this is essentially what we are saying: “I need help.”

If we could strip away all the jargon, labels, and stigma around asking for help, I bet medicine would be much further ahead. 

Thanks to COVID, more people are talking about what their struggles look like. Hearing these stories cascades into healing when we realize the stories others tell are our stories too. Think of the healing that could happen if we knew we are never really alone and we don’t have to be everything to everyone all the time. 

You get to be you and simply ask for help!

Honouring how difficult it is for us to say these 3 words is a real fear in medicine. Honestly, I think this is what 90 percent of my patients long to say to me.

Today I implore you to show up at your next self-care visit and just say … I need help. See what happens. Watch empathy unfold right in front of you, watch the reciprocation between two humans. 

When you show up ready and willing to ask for help, you’re doing the real work. And you’re already halfway to healing generations past, present and future.