CARLYLE - May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and your mental health matters.
Mental health awareness is about bringing the public's attention to the realities around mental health and letting everyone know that mental health affects everyone.
However, mental health isn't just about having or not having a mental illness. Our well-being is affected by all aspects of our lives, and that, in turn, affects how we experience life, work and time with our loved ones.
Those living with mental health issues are deserving of care, understanding, compassion and pathways to hope, healing, recovery and fulfillment.
That’s where mental health coach Morgan Wasylyk of Carlyle, founder of Seeker Wellness & Healing, can provide help.
Wasylyk has struggled herself with her health in general, including her physical health, mental health and emotional health. Through her personal experiences, she found the more alternative side of things were the most effective for her, whether it was yoga, meditation or holistic measures.
Wasylyk has a bachelor of education and taught middle school for 10 years.
She explains that the main reason she became a teacher was because she wanted to help people.
“My foundation was to build really good relationships with the kids and it probably came from a place of wanting to be the person that I needed when I was a kid growing up.”
Up until the fall of 2021, she pursued both careers but at that time made the decision to become a life coach full time and retired from her teaching career.
“I still really love teaching,” says Wasylyk. “I caught myself in two passions.”
“The more I could help other people, the more I felt I was helping myself. You learn something on a deeper level when you teach it.”
It was only natural for this to turn into something else that was even deeper in supporting people.
Many people struggle with mental illness but do not realize it. Clients seek answers.
Since becoming a mental health coach, Wasylyk has been gaining more recognition through social media but says she generated more clientele through referrals or word of mouth.
Wasylyk works out of her home for multiple reasons, although the health board brought her in because they wanted to take a different approach, so she attends an office in Carnduff twice a month where she has quite a busy schedule.
Clients come because they realize they have to do something different in their lives. It may be difficult for some to open up and be vulnerable in order to change things about themselves.
“I suggest for clients to commit to at least four sessions and see where things go from there. They will get a good sense of what the process will be like.”
“People may want to have one session and leave and be better and that is not how this works. It is a process and it takes time. Feeling better and evolving in your life is an ongoing process. It’s never ending … if we’re not evolving in our life that’s a major red flag.”
“In my line of work, we’re not just talking … one thing that’s so important for our mental health and evolving as people is we have to start doing different things that allow us to actually function better as human beings, which means unlearning certain patterns and behaviours. That often takes things like meditation, emotional freedom techniques, trying actual different tools and practices so that we can unlock more subconscious behaviours and really heal past wounds so that we can move forward.”
Wasylyk feels that people always experience some sort of shift after investing a certain amount of time.
“It’s one of those things that you’re going to get as much out of it as you put into it.”
Wasylyk has absolutely seen changes in her clients’ mental health months later after sessions with her.
“I’ve had such a successful business,” says Wasylyk. “People have found something within themselves, whether it’s ignited more motivation and/or more self-compassion or having the ability to shut off the busyness of their mind … that’s a big one especially in today’s society. We just have nonstop stress coming at us – notifications and meetings and work and trying to be the perfect mom/dad.”
She believes people are spread way too thin.
Through the pandemic some people felt the lack of connection. Humans are meant to have meaningful connection.
“We’ve thrived on it for hundreds and thousands of years.”
“We as individuals need and crave community. We need to know that people are there for us.”
There are many important reasons to take care of our mental health.
“We matter as individuals. We deserve to have a life full of health, happiness, joy, fulfillment and it’s not just about being in the rat race of life and getting through it. So many people wish away their time and get themselves caught up in a life of struggle. I do not believe that life has to be a struggle.”
“Not to say that there isn’t going to be hard times thrown in there because there definitely is but we can learn how to ride the waves of them better.”
“We are going to experience a variety of emotions. We are both secure and insecure, we are both strong and weak, we are both happy and sad. That’s normal to experience all of these things. There’s typically an imbalance with people. Sometimes it’s the difficult emotions taking over a person so they can not experience all of those things.”
Many people are somewhere in the middle, just coasting along. That’s not a full human experience.
People all seem to be locked to our devices.
“I feel like I connect with people and it’s quite energizing,” says Wasylyk. “It gives me a great deal of joy to connect with clients.”
Wasylyk is happy to lend an ear even if it’s just to give that person validation to be seen and heard. That alone feels good to a person.
“One thing to realize within mental health support is that listening isn’t the only thing that we’re doing but it definitely starts there.”
Many struggle in silence without receiving the necessary support needed to manage their condition while others may not even realize they have an illness and continue to suffer despite its devastating effects on their lives.
Some individuals are more vulnerable than others and everyone faces challenges in life that can impact their mental health.
“It’s very important that we’re open to see what works for us. Finding your person that you connect with is everything.”
“At the end of the day, whether it’s a counsellor, doctor or a life coach, we’re all here to help.”
To learn more about Morgan Wasylyk, go to her website www.seekerwellness.com.
