mental health is not mental illness with ben west (part 1)

trigger warning: this episode contains discussions of suicide, grief, trauma, and mental health struggles on this episode of live a little, nikki lilly is joined by someone she's admired for a long time - mental health advocate and campaigner ben west. this is an episode that's especially important to nikki, and it's the first time she's had a male guest on the podcast (and if it had to be anyone, she's glad it's ben). this conversation goes deep: ben opens up about feeling exhausted for the right reasons - tired from work that's purposeful and matters and feeling genuinely happy and settled for the first time in a long time. nikki and ben discuss the difference between mental health and mental illness (why we need to understand that everyone has mental health, not just people who are struggling), and how we've gotten stuck in a system that only focuses on stopping people from getting worse instead of creating hope for recovery. ben shares heartbreaking insights about his brother sam, who was convinced that once you got depression, you never don't have depression - a belief that left him feeling there was no way back up. they talk about why mental health education needs to be instilled in schools where kids spend most of their formative years, the lack of resources and ben's vision for an education system that prioritises social emotional learning over just academic subjects. this is part one of a two-part conversation about hope, prevention and recovery. don't forget to subscribe and don't miss new episodes every thursday! Follow Live A Little with Nikki Lilly Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@livealittlepodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@livealittlepodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@livealittlepod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices