A Life Less Ordinary with Sophie Elwes

#3 Ben West: The 'S' word, meeting the Prime Minister, and how talking to yourself can help

May 25, 2020 Sophie Elwes Season 1 Episode 2
A Life Less Ordinary with Sophie Elwes
#3 Ben West: The 'S' word, meeting the Prime Minister, and how talking to yourself can help
Show Notes

Sophie talks to Ben West who is an award-winning mental health campaigner who lost his brother Sam to suicide in 2018. Realising there was no formal training for teachers about mental health, Ben created a petition for teachers to receive mandatory Mental Health First Aid training. Sophie and Ben discuss the stigma around the ‘S’ word, how people opened up to him after his brother’s death and he recognised the need to create a community where people can talk openly about mental health which led him to start WalktoTalk and the #SaveOurStudents campaign. Ben talks about meeting the Prime Minister, the next steps in his campaign and finally the strategies he’s learned to him himself manage his own mental health after his brother took his own life.