Give yourself a break, says Nat’s What I Reckon at mental health expo

The 2024 Murray Bridge Mental Health and Wellbeing Expo has hosted appearances by nationally renowned experts in mental health and screen addiction.

Give yourself a break, says Nat’s What I Reckon at mental health expo
Nat from Nat'ss What I Reckon reminds you to be kinder to yourself. Photo: Glenn Power.

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What minds matters and what matters minds.

This was the theme of Murray Bridge's annual Mental Health and Wellbeing Expo.

The expo, on Friday, encouraged the Murray Bridge community to stand united on matters relating to mental health and wellbeing.

Nathan "Nat" Bartolo, YouTube creator, stand up comedian and rock musician encouraged people to speak out at his appearance.

As a young boy, Mr Bartolo said he had idolised Batman.

"When facing any kind of distress he knicks of into a phone booth gets changed and deals with it," he said.

"Well, I ended completely opposite."

Mr Bartolo left school in year 10 after having to repeat a year due to never quite understanding the content.

He decided to pursue his passion in rock music, which got him through a lot of bad times such as his parents splitting.

When people asked "how are you?" he almost felt guilty for telling the truth, he said..

"So many people stay quiet about what they're going through because they're scared to talk about what's gong on," he said.

"The scariest thing for me is having to carry that stuff on my own, if I don't say anything about it then nobody knows.

"We kind of take mental health for granted and we say lots of nice things about it like 'all you've gotta do is some exercise, eat a banana, go for a run and do a flip'.

"All that sounds good but it's not a one size fits all thing; trying to look after yourself comes in many forms."

It was hard to know what you needed and to practice self care when you were going through a rough time, he said.

There were big expectations on people suffering to get better, and everyone wanted to get better – nobody enjoyed being down.

A positive Mr Bartolo mentioned was the wonderful lens on the universe people gained when they experienced mental health issues.

This lens was what helped people going through similar experiences understand and help each other, he said.

Dr Lee Kim talks on screens addiction. Photo: Glenn Power.

Doctor Kim Le says we're under protecting children from screens

Not long after, child psychiatrist Dr Kim Le focused on understanding the importance of technology and its connection to mental health.

"It's the young people of Murray Bridge that are your most valuable resource," he said.

If you were on social media every day, you should consider yourself an employee of those platforms, he said.

Online activities like gaming could became a problem when they started to affect mental and physical health and family interactions.

If an 18-year-old continues to use their tech as they do today, it would equate to spending almost 11 years on their devices over a lifetime.

"Consumers will change their behavior if they feel they are being manipulated," he said.

Our society over-protected kids in real life and under-protected them online, he said.

Dr Le pointed out five parenting strategies for a child's online activity:

  • Following parental guidelines
  • Using parenting groups such as Heads Up Alliance
  • No devices in the bedroom
  • Giving the brain a break from screens
  • Scheduling other activities

"Make sure you've got access to all the wonderful of organisations here in the local community," he said.

He also suggested websites such as Game Quitters, which had a hobby tool for people wanting to move away from online games.

Other activities and the Headspace youth panel

The town hall was filled with stalls from local community services such as iReach, AC Care, Silent Ripples, NDIS, the Murraylands Migrant Resource Centre and more.

Riverside Woodfire Pizza provided a delicious lunch and free massages were given out, along with coffee and morning tea.

The team at Headspace Murray Bridge held a youth panel addressing the challenges and positives local young people faced in the community.

The housing crisis, limited transport options to travel for city work and study, and under-resourced services were the biggest barriers they said young people faced in Murray Bridge.

On the panel were Winter Crane, Tyler Dunt, Chidera Ejimogu, Gabrielle DiChiera and Isaiah Janiak.

The Murray Bridge community was asked to better understand these topics and explore ways to raise awareness and build a supportive environment for both loved ones and themselves.

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