Special Episode 6. Mental Health in a time of Covid (and the polyvagal ladder) with Brenda Sutherland

Mental health has become a major casualty of the Covid pandemic that has swept across the globe and been responsible for rolling lockdowns throughout Australia restricting personal freedoms, social contact and the ability to prosper financially. No one is exempt from this unprecedented event and the anxiety, depression and anguish wrought is having a major effect on the health and wellbeing of our communities.

To discuss the indicators that a patient or friend may be experiencing evolving or established mental health difficulties and learning methods for shifting patients holistically out of collapse we have a conversation with psychologist Brenda Sutherland founder and director of The Awakening Group. Brenda teaches us about the polyvagal ladder and how to use an understanding of this insight to instructively and empathically assist our most vulnerable patients.

Brenda's extensive knowledge of the human mental state in distress and happiness and her work with Bessel van de Kolk, Stan Tatkin and Byron Katie have placed her in an outstanding position to guide us on this subject.

Please enjoy the conversation.

References:

The Awakening Group.com.au

https://awakening.com.au/lms/2021/08/24/ventral-vibes-project/

Mental health services in Australia, COVID-19 impact on mental health

Weekend Australian - Aug 28-29 pages 1&6

To be a guest on the show or provide some feedback, I’d love to hear from you: manager@gihealth.com.au

Dr Luke Crantock MBBS, FRACP, is a gastroenterologist in practice for over 25 years. He is the founder of The Centre for GI Health, based in Melbourne Australia and is passionate about educating General Practitioners and patients on disease prevention and how to manage and improve their digestive health.