The Social Media Takeaway - Louise McDonnell

Prioritizing Mental Wealth in the Workplace

• Louise McDonnell

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Are you showing up as your best selves and prioritizing your well-being? Join us in this insightful episode with Emma Weaver, the founder of Mental Wealth International, as we delve into the importance of mental health first aid. 

In this episode, Emma shares her personal journey from young motherhood to pioneering mental health and suicide prevention solutions in the workplace. Her story emphasizes the significance of timely support, the inspiration behind Mental Wealth International, and the development of mental health first aid and toolbox talks for businesses. We also discuss utilizing AI for productivity and companionship, knowing the importance of community, and practical advice for managing loneliness, remote work, and social media with intentionality. Emma also offers insights into filling one's 'mental wealth vault' through daily well-being practices to build resilience for challenging times. 

Tune in now to discover how you can enrich your mental wealth and thrive in both work and life.

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Louise McDonnell:

Welcome to the Social Media Takeaway. I'm your host, Louise McDonnell and today I'm speaking with Emma Weaver. And today we're going to be speaking about mental health first aid in the workplace and how we can work towards fostering healthier, more resilient organizational cultures. Hi, everybody. Today, I'm thrilled to welcome Emma Weaver to the show. Emma is the visionary behind Mental Wealth International. With a passionate commitment to transforming workplace well being, Emma has pioneered innovative approaches to mental health and suicide prevention across diverse industries. Her work not only shines a light on the importance of mental health first aid, but also offers customized solutions to foster healthier, more resilient, organized cultures. Emma, you're very welcome to the show.

Emma Weaver:

It's absolutely my pleasure to be here. Delighted to have been invited on, Louise.

Louise McDonnell:

Oh, thank you so much. Emma, do you want to tell everybody about your journey?

Emma Weaver:

Oh, I will, surely. It started, I'll give away my age here now, it started about 26 years ago. So I became a mum very young and left to education whenever I became a mum with this notion. Can I be frank and say it was probably imposed on me, but with this notion, that was it. Everything's over. You became a mom and that's just it. And when I was actually sitting in my mother's house one day, I was visiting with my little girl and I had visitor come in and she said, what are you going to do with your life? And I said, What do you mean? And she was like, you know, what are you going to do from now on? And I was like, so I've got options here. And she said, yes, you do. Would you not? Because I had done my GCSE. So here in the North of Ireland, you do GCSEs. I had passed them all. And the idea was I was going to do A levels going to university and the health visitor knew that. And she says, you're not going to go back into education or whatever. And I said, can I? And she was like, of course you can. So she sat there and then and filled out a form and just literally brought it into the college and I got a place and way off I went down to college thinking this was absolutely amazing that I stood at options. Now imagine not even knowing, but I didn't. I didn't realize. I just thought that was it for me. I couldn't drive around and I was getting the bus. It was, and we lived in the country. It was quite funny. But anyway, I done it. So on my educational journey, then I had to go out on a placement and one of my placement, I'd done several, but one of them was in a mental health day support center. It was called the recovery day support, and it was in the town next to where we lived. And when I walked in to start my placement, I realized, Oh, I know these people. I didn't know these people had mental health issues. They live in my community. They were taxi drivers, shop workers. Somebody's mother, dad, uncle, aunt, brother, sister, and I remember walking in, and I would have been about 19, 20, and I remember thinking, Gosh, I didn't realise that, and I'm not joking you, it was in that moment that I realised. This is what I want to do. These people were all living lovely lives within their communities, able to serve within their community and have a meaningful life and yet had a mental health issue or challenge and needed just a bit of support with it that allowed them to maintain within their environment, within their community. And I was like, this is unbelievable. I didn't know whatever idea I had in my head, what was going on. It certainly wasn't that. So it was in that moment that I realized, actually, I'm quite good at this. I really enjoy it. It was really important to me to be able to support people in their own environments, to allow them to excel within their communities. So that was the very start of the journey. And then I kept going and I became a manager of mental health services across the trust. And I worked there for, must be 22, 23 years. You know, I worked my way up. And then about three years ago, three and a half years ago, there was an incident where this one lady had come in. So all throughout the years I knew there was gaps in services and you knew, but you tried your best and there's quite a lot of red tape and it's like everything else. More could be done. You can only do what you can do and things like that. And there was a lady in front of me, lovely woman, late fifties. I can even picture her now. And she was just distraught and her life had fell apart. So to an outsider, you may assume lots of different things, but as I got talking to her, I realized that a family member quite close to her had died and she was working, married, a family and everything else, and a family member of hers had died and she just wasn't coping with, with what had happened. So somebody obviously decided, gosh, you're not well, you need a bit of help. So she went to the GP. Who potentially prescribed her whatever she needed and then referred her on to the community mental health team. The community mental health team then assessed her and then she got a key worker. And then the key worker then came out and spoke to her and sent her to the service that I manage, which was the recovery, the mental health recovery team. So that took about two years from start to finish. And when she was sitting in front of me, I was like, you're grieving. It's grief. You're grieving. This is what's happened here. But unfortunately for that woman within those two years, she'd lost her job and her marriage have failed. And I remember, and I didn't frankly say it to the lady, but I remember thinking that did not need to happen. That didn't, in my opinion, in my, and it's a personal opinion, and probably with a bit of wisdom throughout the years, knowing the difference if you get timely support and not the difference that it can make in your life. So I remember in that moment deciding I could be doing more now that I've realized this and understand it, I could be doing more and that's how Mental Wealth International was born.

Louise McDonnell:

So when you say Is it that you feel that the process that that lady went through wasn't the right one?

Emma Weaver:

I believe had she been able to get timely support, whether it was at work, whether it was within the family, if somebody just had known a bit better or maybe recognised the signs of what was going on, she potentially would have got a different more timely support. And that's where then Mental Wealth International was born. One night, in the middle of the night, I woke up and started writing it all down, writing the whole concept of Mental Wealth International, what it could be. And the reason why I targeted workplaces, because there is a, we offer mental health first aid and you said it in the bio and you're a certified mental health first aider. So it's the same as a first aid or you go and you become, you do your training and you do your practical exam at the end of it. And you become a first responder, a first aid, or if somebody breaks their leg or their arm, or, you know, they're having a heart attack, you're that moment. You support them in that moment. And then you seek the ambulance or the hospital for the support. So a mental health first aider does the same. So that lady is just one of the examples. But the concept is if you're in a workplace or even a family member, you are able to identify that person needs support. You're going in with the knowledge, the competence and confidence to have that conversation in that moment with that person to try and work out what's going on. You may or may not identify in that woman's instance, it was grief, it was grieving. I was able to identify that straight away that she needed great support.

Louise McDonnell:

So before, I, I knew you were talking about the business now, but I just, I'm just intrigued about the story you've just told us about that lady. So what happened to her? She went to a GP, he put her on medication, and then she ended up going through two years of support and eventually finding herself to a T.

Emma Weaver:

Not necessarily support, she was probably putting a wait list. So a family member rightly spotted "Gosh, she's not doing well." So I don't know whether they maybe said she was depressed or anxiety. I don't know, but nobody picked up on it. So she went to the GP, she would have got her medication and then referred on to the community mental health team, which could have took a while. And then the community mental health team, because they're so vastly full, the community mental health team then would have assigned her a key worker. The key worker then would have assessed her and then a referrer would have came to the service that I managed. So it took two years. From the start to the finish before she got sitting in front of me.

Louise McDonnell:

And you think that if on day one, somebody had been able to say you're grieving, she would have got the support she needed faster.

Emma Weaver:

Grief counseling. Yeah. That's my belief. That's my belief. Or some form of counseling that maybe would have carried her on a different journey that things didn't go so bad. Because see if you're able to hold space for people and really listen. And it's a hard skill. It's a hard skill, especially in the day and age we're in. And the fear of that conversation, what if they say they're not well, what am I going to do? I don't know what to say to that. You don't need to know. You just need to listen and then direct them. And that's where then Mental Wealth International came out of in terms of really embedding mental health first aiders, having those conversations in the workplaces. Now we do workplaces, colleges, gyms, universities, all those places. But I realized even to take the pressure off the system, even though that's not my motivation. But if there were people there in that instance, in that moment that were able to listen and then refer you on to where you need to go. I believe that can make such a significant difference in that moment and put you on a completely different path. And that's where mental wealth, that's really what mental wealth is. And then obviously, I go on to talk about mental wealth being what you do on a consistent basis to maintain your well being, like the compound effect so that when something does happen, you have the tools and the resilience to be able to, to deal with it or to know where to go.

Louise McDonnell:

And so I'm intrigued about the mental health first stage. That's really cool. So do you train then, do you go to companies and organizations and they nominate, here's person A, B and C. Can you train those to be there? Wow.

Emma Weaver:

That's exactly what I do. And would you believe a construction's my biggest client? Which it just blows me away, especially considering Louise, two construction workers a day kill themselves in the UK and Ireland. Two a day. The biggest, you know, and whenever I realize that, I'm not surprised that construction are coming.

Louise McDonnell:

Oh, that doesn't surprise me because, and I don't mean to be sexist here. But women, when they meet, they'll talk up and down and inside out all their problems generally. Whereas men talk about the score in the match.

Emma Weaver:

Exactly. But I mean, it's such a huge issue and I, I actually didn't realize that when I started this site. So you're right. Big companies and gyms, universities, colleges would come to me and say, look, we have eight people here. We would love to get them all to be mental health because it's an accreditation. You're a qualified mental health first aider, the same as first aid. And it really just, it does a couple of different things as a team member or staff member, whatever you feel valued, you feel you do have somewhere to go that someone who has an appropriate qualification gives you a bit more confidence. Although I have to say a listening ear is everybody's, you know, yourself as women just offloading sometimes, but just say there is a real issue. The fact that your company has taken the time to invest in mental health first aiders can be a huge thing or the College or University. Now some people, it's all different, you know, some people, could come and say, we've got 50 and then, you know, across all different sites and things got, it really just depends, but it's really important to me that it's meaningful. You know, if I thought it was a tick box, it's probably not going to work with me. It really has to be, why do you want to do this? And quite often, and it's really unfortunate Louise, what has quite often happened is there has been a suicide somewhere. Or on site or an issue and then we're brought in and so we do like workshops as well and toolbox talks and the mental health force theatres, but the reason why I like the mental health force theatres is because they're embedded. They're there. They're changing the culture, the language, the conversations, the recognitions. They're embedded in the teams, which I think again, if you really think about it again, it's keeping people safe in their environment. So it's kind of like when 19 year old Emma where I realise these people are getting support in their local towns and it's really working. It's the same as a mental health first aider. They're embedding that culture and support within the environment.

Louise McDonnell:

When you think about it like. Sure, that's where we spend most of our time is at work, you know, Monday to Friday you're at work. So if you can get the support there and that certification, did you come up with that? Is that yours?

Emma Weaver:

No. There's a whole organization. So we, I've actually a team. So we've all went and trained to be trainers and now we go out and train people to become mental health first aid. Now the mental health toolbox talks, it's, is our signature product where it's a toolbox talk. Where a company can buy it and it's all, it's actually me recording me talking and there's a workbook with it. So every, let's say you have a team meeting every month, whether it's on site or whether it is in a school or university, you've got this video, pre recorded video of me talking about a different mental health issue or challenge every month. And there is a workbook along with it. So, cause we're expecting managers and supervisors and team leaders to know all of this stuff. Like, I mean, I don't know about building blocks or things like that. You wouldn't expect me to go out in and start building house. So the expectation that we have on Those people that hold meetings to talk about mental health and well being is absolutely ridiculous. So that idea came from actually a lady on a building site that said, I'd love if you could come down every month and talk to our teams as one of our Toolbox Talks. Because the Toolbox Talks that are out on site, and I don't know why I'm concentrating on construction, but it just seems to be coming up. Every month they have a health and safety talk and it's called the Toolbox Talk. But surely if two, if the biggest killer within construction is suicide, it makes sense that one of them a month at least would be on mental health. So that's where the toolbox talks come out of.

Louise McDonnell:

And so tell me more about the tool, the toolbox that you've developed. Can you tell us about the framework that you've developed within that?

Emma Weaver:

So the toolbox talk comes from research for many years on again, the framework around what we do on a consistent basis to build our mental health and wellbeing. So you have the, the five ways to wellbeing that the public health agency has put together and it's been tried and tested as to what we need to be doing on a regular basis to maintain our wellbeing. They also talk about your five fruit and veg a day and also the five people you spend the most time with. And whilst that is very business, our Toolbox Talks have turned that into a framework around where can you go for support should you need it? Do you know your fav?? So all those things are embedded in the Toolbox Talks. And the idea is, that it's a very short video that then sparks a conversation that is backed up by the, the worksheets and the workbook. So that people, so that it's meaningful, so that it's correct. It's relevant information and again, is showing colleges, universities, gyms, wherever workplaces that we can have these conversations safely.

Louise McDonnell:

Right. Okay. What about somebody who's working by themselves? What if, what if they are their sole trader, they're on their own, you're trying to navigate this journey by themselves, what advice would you give them?

Emma Weaver:

So one of the biggest things is loneliness and isolation, would you believe for your mental health? It was actually Cardiff University done a huge research piece that longterm loneliness and isolation can be likened to smoking 20 cigarettes a day. So you've got to be really careful when you're working on your own. My advice, and like, I mean, this is my office. You could find me sitting here on my own day and day. Now, I'm fortunate I've got a family, so I'm not on my own all the time, but in a working environment I am, it's really important to join networks. It's really important to find like minded people, but be intentional about it. Don't just join any, make sure they're aligned with who you are, what you're trying to do. Now, A, would be part of women's networks, and also part of really hard driven - business networks. It's really good to go between the two, but don't leave yourself sitting on your own. So whether it's, you know, you need support with finances or social media or actually putting together a business plan or prospects, whatever it is, build your network. Nobody else is going to do it. You need to be intentional and show up for yourself in those meetings and reach out. You know, it can be very hard, and I've noticed this over the years, it can be very hard to ask for support, really hard to ask for support if you need it. But if you were to put it into a different entity, like your business or for your clients, we tend to be able to ask quicker. It's really strange how we don't value that we don't need support. So reach out for your business, which ultimately will support you in the back. So networking. Not even sure about that word, but definitely make sure that you're involved in other groups that are 100 percent aligned with you and yeah, be intentional about it as well, but you have to do it like at least once a week. I would be hoping if you're sitting on your own that you're linking out, linking out somewhere.

Louise McDonnell:

And what about, and what about like reaching out to people through like a Zoom call? Is that good enough or should you, should it be in person or?

Emma Weaver:

So the ways to wellbeing would tell you connect. So one of the five ways to wellbeing is connect. And obviously we have technology now. So if your only option is a telephone call, a video call, a Zoom, do that, do that. Now I love going out to these business meetings, networking meetings mums at work in the morning, whatever it is, you know, give yourself, cause you, you never do not come back without feeling inspired by somebody. You know, there's always something. So whether you get a referral or a new contact or just you're listening to other people and you're feeling inspired it's not very often you'd come away without that. And you need to get yourself out of your own work and out of your own headspace because, you know, if you're like, I don't have time, that's when you know you should be doing it.

Louise McDonnell:

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Emma Weaver:

You know, like, and the talk about that was, I remember, gosh, years ago. And I was talking about breath work and meditation and finding the time and people would have went, I can't find the time. You know, I'm working. I'm running my own business. Then you need to do it twice as much. If you're telling me that you can't find the time for a five minute meditation, you need to be doing 10 minutes. There's something wrong because it's our duty as entrepreneurs, as business owners, whatever, if you're a manager, a team leader, whatever it is to show up your best self. And there's no possible way you're, you're doing that if you're not looking after your wellbeing. See in the world that we live in today, it's absolutely impossible. So I very much see it as part of my business. That I am filling my cup, that I am making sure that I'm showing up my best self. For you today, I have already taken, I've already done my meditation, I've done my journaling, I've done my breath work, and you're getting the best of me. If I hadn't of done that, I'd be kind of looking at you as I'm tired on a Friday evening. I'm not.

Louise McDonnell:

Okay, and what about, what about people who are managing teams of remote workers? So like they're meeting them possibly on zoom only. So again, what advice do you give them?

Emma Weaver:

So the connection there is definitely going to be different. I remember whenever we were locked down, I was still managing the teams everything ended up remote. Now imagine trying to manage teams of mental health services when the whole world was in lockdown and trying to sort that out. So I used to send them things or, you know, just do, like, don't have every Zoom work. Some of them should be maybe more casual, like a coffee meetup. If your only means of connecting with your teams. Don't have it always your weekly call. Try and connect in a way that's a bit more casual as well and get other people to show up, whether it's a coffee morning, like there's nothing like personal and meeting in person. That should be an absolute priority. Every time that should be a priority. If that's not able to happen, then I would be definitely looking to make sure that there's meaningful connections in a more casual way, other than everything always being work. And to know what it is as well, Louise, we don't have to have all the answers, because the majority of the people we're working with here, ask them, ask them. What, what do you like that we are doing? And what do you not like that, you know, what are we not doing? What do you think might be better? You know, ask people, you know, what are they missing? Because we went very inwards and people are very accepting that everything's on the screen and I love it because I am now able to connect all over the world because of Zoom and that is absolutely amazing. But I wouldn't do it all day, every day, it wouldn't do me one bit of good. So we've, you've got to be balanced in your approach in terms of what are, what are you making up about? So if Zoom's the only way, I would definitely be incorporating a bit more casual into it. But ask people, ask your teams.

Louise McDonnell:

That's a really good, that's good. A piece of advice. Okay. So then in relation to social media, I know you say it every talk that you give, you always have a slide on social media. So what do you, what do you, what do you tell people?

Emma Weaver:

So this could be, well, I don't know if it's controversial, so obviously when I might do talks, keynotes or some of my workshops, it is all about wellbeing and how are you looking after yourself? But I also like to talk with social media, especially apps and different ways that we're communicating with each other. So again, it's being intentional about who you're following, who are you connected to, understanding the impact or the power that your mobile phone, your tablet, your computer, whatever it is, actually can have on your mind. It can actually change your mood. And people don't like talking about that, but it's true. If you happen to flick on something on social media and you don't like what you see, Or a quote that really resonated with you and maybe triggered you because of something else. It can change your mood in a moment. Now equally it can go the other way. It can lift you up. So, I really encourage people, be mindful who you're following, what you're watching on social media. So every six months I do, every six months I would go onto whatever social media platforms I am on and do like a cull. I will unfollow, delete, block. I do it all the time. I have to do it. I have to do it. And I remember I was out doing talk and one of the people said you know, you wake up in the morning, your phone's your alarm. You lift it and then it's got all these notifications and you've just straight away started into that whether it's work or social media and you see something that you didn't like or triggered you or resonated you in a negative way, you're in a bad mood before you've even got out of bed. It's too, we're giving it too much power. We really are giving it too much power. I was on one of the social media platforms, it was Facebook actually years and years and years ago. And I come off it for about five years. And I only come back on it again in like 2019 cause we were running an event and there was people over in America were like, why are you not on Facebook? It's our biggest platform day to day to day. And that's how I went. I'm glad now, obviously for my business that I'm back on it, but I, I was off it most been four or five years. I just come off it. And that's just what worked for me. I'm not telling everybody to come off social media. I'm just saying. Do what works for you. And I understand and like I have a teenage son the pressure that you're under to be up to date, you know, to keep in contact with other people. But even as adults, we're putting it on ourselves and there was a girl at work and I said to her, she was looking for me on social media and I wasn't on it. And I said, Oh no, I've come off social media. You're not going to find me social media. She went, Oh, I wish I could do that. And I said, the fact that you're saying that means you've got an issue because if you're wishing you could come off social media and you feel you can't because whatever tie it has on you there's a problem, but people do social media breaks as well. I hear that more where people make them off for a week or 10 days and I encourage that as well, especially if you're going on holidays or you're going away or whatever it is. And then when you come back on it again, it gives you a whole different perspective. However, I have to say it works for my business. Social media works very well for my business.

Louise McDonnell:

I know you're saying you left Facebook for five years, but I think the way that people in general use social media has changed. I know at one point on Facebook, it was very much, you know, everybody shared, you know, their, if they were away on holidays, the holiday pics, or if there was a big family event and you saw those events or, you know, so there was a lot of sharing of information and then. There was a point, I think it was after there was, do you remember that was the whole scandal about the security issues and all of that. After that people kind of thought that kind of sharing of information kind of moved more towards private groups, like WhatsApp groups, like family groups or your friend group, you know, WhatsApp group or whatever. So now I'd say coming back after five years, you probably noticed that Facebook is a lot different. So the challenge that Facebook and Instagram have at the moment is to get people to create content. Now. Here's the thing, I don't think they reward people for creating content. So if you're a business, you know, your business page, the organic reach is crap on it now it's nearly more a destination page. So people, if they want to check you out, we'll seek your page out and then they see all about you. But I think on social media now it's different. We don't share as much information, but another thing that I think that has happened is that there's more keyboard warriors out there. People can be very, very mean spirited and they're not afraid.

Emma Weaver:

And that's why you have to be really careful, like even on your settings, your privacy settings, things like that. I've got a little bit better, but I used to just ever know my stories. And forget about, like I, definitely don't post every day, but you, you'll go on to my stories and you'll see all about me on my stories and then they go, I don't know how I got myself into that, but that just, and it's probably the worst thing to do for your business, but,

Louise McDonnell:

no, it's not though, because that's the, like that's content where. You know, it's gone in 24 hours and that's the, the stories are kind of meant really meant for your warmer, your warmest followers because they want to know what you're at today and tomorrow.

Emma Weaver:

That's what I do. Yeah. And I get feedback from people saying, if you want to know what, it's funny you say that. My family say, if you want to know what Emma's doing, just watch her stories and she'll tell you. Cause I will, I'd say I'm off to here, I'm off to there. But really you've got a, it's definitely is worth checking in on yourself from a wellbeing point of view, you know, who you're following, what you're following, you know, is it good for you and things like that there. But for your business, it's huge and work out what platform works best for you as well. Like you'll see me on social media, but I'm not on social media. Once all them stories goes up, I'm probably not back on it again till the evening. Do you know what I mean? I don't. It may look like I'm on it a lot and yet, I'm not really and as I said I always forget to post it's more my stories. But working out what works for you and it's very hard even for the young ones to try and explain to them what social media is all about. They think they have a handle on it, but it is such an impression on them. It's hard.

Louise McDonnell:

Well, it's hard because they think they know everything too. So I think we know nothing.

Emma Weaver:

You're right.

Louise McDonnell:

So for somebody who's tuning in here, who has heard the term mental wealth. They've heard mental wealth and that has attracted them to tune into this podcast. And maybe they're just not feeling great.

Emma Weaver:

Yeah.

Louise McDonnell:

Like what advice do you give?

Emma Weaver:

So. The term mental wealth, to be honest with you, has come about and I mentioned it a little bit earlier is from understanding it's what we do on a consistent basis to show up for ourself, whether we're feeling great or not, that because people quite often attribute wealth to a monetary value, whereas I attribute it to living my life by my freedom and choices and feeling happiness and joy in my life, but you don't get that every day you can't possibly so it's in what I do every day that I am depositing those really good things into what I call my mental wealth vault. So if I'm doing breath work or meditating. Or journaling or going for a walk, the compound effect of that is I'm generally in good well being, good health and just keep it going all of the time. So whenever I am challenged or I hit a wall or something terrible happens in my life, cause like, let's face it, none of us get away without it. I am then able to withdraw my reserves, the tools, the things that I know that work for me to allow me to remain to some part resilient or well. So if you're having a bad day and you've no reserves, you really have nowhere to go. So the idea of mental wealth is, like, I remember one time, like I had a really bad day and I did not want to do my breath work and I did not want to do my journaling, but I looked back on stuff that I had wrote before in the journal and that reminded me that I need, I, it was me speaking to me that I needed to go, just go for the walk. I know you don't want to go for the walk, but just go for the walk and get yourself out and that cleared my head. So it's on the good days that we work out what we need on the bad days.

Louise McDonnell:

Oh I love that.

Emma Weaver:

Do you know what I mean? It's on the good days that we work out. So when you're having a bad day. You remember, or you know, or you've wrote it down somewhere, or you've got something already scheduled that you're thinking, my past self had my back when this bad day was coming along. You know, to say that, do something that your future self would be grateful for. Write it down. Write it. That's, that's what the concept of the toolbox, that's where it came from. On your good day, write down what it is you're doing on your good day. So when you have a bad day, you've already told yourself, this is what you need to be doing today because you're having a bad day.

Louise McDonnell:

So it's like you're paying it forward for yourself.

Emma Weaver:

You're paying it forward for yourself. And that's what the mental wealth fault is. And that is entirely where mental wealth come out of. It's what we do on our good days, it's how we show up. Like, you don't have to do it every day, but it's how you show up consistently for yourself. That on that bad day, you've got this whole vault worth of precious stuff that you know works for you, that you can come on. And it's always good to talk to other people as well. Like I was terrible at that. I don't even mind saying it. I was terrible at talking to her. I thought I knew everything. Don't you know, I am the mental health expert. I have got this sorted. I do not. And I need to talk to people on some days too to either pull me into perspective or just help me to keep going.

Louise McDonnell:

Yeah, I know. I know. I think we're so busy. We're all so busy. This conversation has come up a few times now with different people that we said, goodness gracious, we said in COVID we'd never go back to it, but we're right back there.

Emma Weaver:

But like, we are such sociable creatures, even the most introverted person still needs some form of communication. So if we are not being intentional about it, it's not working or saying, look, I need a half an hour out this evening. Will you sit with the kids or. Go and get your dog, whatever it is. One of the biggest things. And I'm just going to say as women, because it's the only really aspect that I can come from is saying no, we saying no to things that really we don't want to do or are going to cause us stress. Now I'm not saying don't help other people out or don't do things for other people or don't push yourself out of your comfort zone. Do all of those things. But we're not good at saying no and setting the boundary if it's going to impact on our wellbeing and we need to get a little bit better at it. So if you know you go for a walk from seven o'clock to eight o'clock every evening and that's what keeps your wellbeing and somebody comes in and asks you to do something, it's quite all right to say no. I'm busy at that time because that's when you do your walk because that's what's important to you and you need to consistently be doing it.

Louise McDonnell:

That's so true. And tell me AI, what's your thoughts? Where is it going to go?

Emma Weaver:

So I've had a couple of conversations throughout the year, but there's not, I'm not. I don't use AI. I'm not really, you know, terribly familiar, not really understanding of it. I was actually at a wedding, believe it or not, in Sardinia, and one of the men at the wedding was doing a TED Talk on AI. And I remember whenever he was doing his talk, he kind of half convinced me. I was like, oh, okay. Because my idea was it's going to take over the world. It's going to be absolutely terrible. And he was like no. It's his thinking around it was it was going to complement everything that we do and get rid of the stuff that we don't want to do to allow us to do the things that we do want to do in our lives. His Thinking was it's gonna give us back time. It's gonna give us back the time because we were not put here to work 9 to 5, 9 to 6 or 7 and be working all day, every day, sitting down. We're meant to travel. We are meant to go out and see the world. We're meant to, you know, fill our souls and do all of those things. And we've got ourselves into this kind of race now. Now, this is his concept, which kind of got me thinking, Oh, we could be on to something here. And the whole idea is his idea was AI will give us back time, which is what we don't have.

Louise McDonnell:

Which is great. Yep. Yep. Like, I agree. It makes us more productive, get our tasks done faster, at a better quality. So there isn't anything wrong with that.

Emma Weaver:

That's right. Great question, by the way. Yeah, you got me thinking there for a minute, but I do remember that conversation. I thought, oh yeah, if it's used right, we get more time, which that's what we're all looking for.

Louise McDonnell:

And then somebody else talked to me about they said that they're building like this robot, which will be a companion for people living by themselves. And this robot will act like a human will, you know, cook or clean and God knows whatever else, okay. To be a companion to someone. And they were saying, you know, you think about it, that's probably really sad, but then if somebody is by themselves and then they're no longer by themselves and they feel they have some company, you know, is it a bad thing?

Emma Weaver:

And that, when you initially said that, I did feel sad. It made me feel a little bit sad, but at the end of the day, we have lost the art of community. I mean, there's a whole book called Bowling Alone, and it's all based on the research and studies about how we have lost community, or lost community as it used to be. Our new community is having conversations like this, using the tools that we have, whereas when I was younger, you were running in and out of everybody's houses. And your community was very much in your face, and you know, people gathering together, making dinners together, birthday parties in the street, like we don't know a lot when I was younger, community's just a little bit different now, so if the intention is right. And it works for some people, a blended approach probably would be the best way.

Louise McDonnell:

Yeah, well, I suppose the comment was if someone's desperately lonely and then they're less lonely, surely that's, that's better.

Emma Weaver:

Good thing. It's a feeling thing.

Louise McDonnell:

Yeah, exactly. So tell us, you've got a free gift for people here today, do you want to tell us a little bit more about it?

Emma Weaver:

I do indeed. So my free gift again, it's about a concept about ways to wellbeing, how to fill your mental wealth vault. So obviously you will have all the details to give it to people and I hope people take time to look at it, read it, understand it and be intentional and going forward with how we are filling our mental wealth vault.

Louise McDonnell:

Oh, that sounds fantastic. I can't wait to check it out. How can people find you, Emma?

Emma Weaver:

So you can get me an old socials, I do have a website. It's mentalwealthinternational.com. And you'll just get to see a wee bit more about me, but I'm on all, all the socials facebook, Instagram, both Emma Weaver and Mental Wealth International.

Louise McDonnell:

Fantastic. Well, thank you so much for coming on and sharing all your knowledge, and I just love. I just love the whole idea of filling up your own bank vault, but it's, it's your own mental wealth. Yeah. So, you know what I met you before and I heard the term, but I don't think I actually got it until now. So thank you!

Emma Weaver:

One of us was part of the group that we were in, he said it was a real broad term that they use, that's mental wealth and he put it to money as much as say, you've got loads of money. And I was like, no, it's being mentally wealthy with your mental health is what I'm talking about.

Louise McDonnell:

You know, at the end of the day, most people want time and happiness, don't they?

Emma Weaver:

That's it. That's exactly it.

Louise McDonnell:

Yeah.

Emma Weaver:

Thank you so much.

Louise McDonnell:

Thank you, Emma. Thanks for listening to the social media takeaway podcast. If you loved this episode and want deeper support with your marketing, head over to sellonsocialmedia.academy/hello.