Difficult conversations are never easy to have or attempt to start no matter our age or life experience. I’m also British which means it’s culturally engrained in us to suffer in painful silence before we ever discuss feelings and emotions. But here’s the thing; that silence, around the world, is killing us.

Mental health conversations don’t always need to be had verbally. There’s nothing wrong with talking through emails, text messages or postcards. How the conversations are started are not important; the fact that we have them at all is!

I created postcards called Comfort Cards™ to become conversation starters and offer comfort to those struggling and help us connect with each other because the more people we share deeper connections with, the less alone we are likely to feel. Studies show that loneliness and feelings of isolation underpins so much of our societal sadness and contributes to mental illness, with Andrew Solomon calling depression the ‘disease of loneliness‘ so if we can try and combat feelings of isolation, we might just be able to keep each other alive!

My aim is that these postcards will be the bridge we need to start those awkward (yet life-saving) conversations whether it’s a colleague in the office or a friend the other side of the world. Though I have designed the first cards for men, my hope is to create further designs for employment, adolescent and child mental health, military mental health, eating disorders, depression and anxiety, psychotic illness, bereavement and general self-esteem.

So many of us hide our mental illnesses #inplainsight and we lose hundreds of thousands of people a year to them; it’s time we changed that!

A perfect reminder to leave on the fridge in your house or the locker room playing sport with your mates at the weekend…

When you know you want to say ‘something’ but don’t know how…

Sometimes saying things out loud is too much so why not write it down instead?

Don’t allow suicidal feelings to be the ‘elephant in the room’; acknowledge them…

In case anyone needs a reminder that it’s not weak to talk about emotions…

Get angry on our behalf at the unfairness of it all…

Why not make the first move and suggest a quiet drink to talk things through?

When someone tells you that they’re a burden or pathetic, give them this reminder…

Mental illness is isolating. Help them realise they’re not alone…

If someone has made the effort, reached out & helped you, make the effort to say thanks…

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