For Mental Health Awareness Week we are sharing stress stories.
Melissa talks to us about how stress has impacted her at different stages; through school and into working life.
Melissa left higher education when she was no longer able to cope with stress or the deterioration of her mental health. Instead, she started working in London at the age of 17.
At work she found different stressors; such as feelings of isolation from being younger than her colleagues and general pressures of work. This saw her panic attacks return.
"And I started having them again because it was such a pressurised environment to work in. And most of the people I worked with were all slightly older and they had some form of support, or they all lived in London, all quite close."
By tackling stress, we can go a long way to tackle mental health problems such as anxiety and depression, and, in some instances, self-harm and suicide. We want to look at how we can tackle stress and help improve our mental health.
Let's start with you and me and talk openly about stress. We all know that talking about our feelings can help us to stay in good mental health and deal with times when we feel troubled
