Overcoming Grief & Understanding Mental Illness with Ben West

Ben West is one of the most engaged mental health campaigners in the UK, committed to making real change around mental health in our society. In 2018, at just 17 years old, Ben's world collapsed around him when he tragically and unexpectedly lost his brother to suicide. The loss of Sam, aged only 15 when he died, propelled Ben to take positive action from this tragedy and concentrate his pain into a drive to campaigning around mental health awareness, suicide prevention and fundamentally changing how we approach mental health, especially in schools and the education system. In this episode, Ben bravely opens up about his brother Sam and the weight that he carries since he sadly passed away. Alice and Ben unpack how anxiety and grief are protecting our bodies and the different ways we should embrace them to understand ourselves better. Ben also opens up about all the work he has done on himself over the years and how the main take away he has is that we should all be kinder to ourselves and a quick fix isn't always the right one. If you want to find out more about the work Ben does you can visit his website: https://www.benwest.org.uk/   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices