The Mind Manual: THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER: Mental Fitness Tools for Everyone (Dr Alex George)

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Over the past year, our young people have faced a whole load of additional challenges, including school closures, loneliness and isolation, and the knock-on effect of the recession causing problems for families such as debt, unemployment, housing, and access to benefits. Since he has started his mental health campaigning, he has received thousands of messages from people who he has helped, thanking him.

Alex George as Youth Mental Prime Minister appoints Dr. Alex George as Youth Mental

The book discusses the ‘mental health toolkit’ George developed while he was grieving and growing – “Not just as a tribute to Llŷr but as a tribute to the mental anguish I have faced in life, both before and since his death”.What you do consistently has a direct impact on your day-to-day health, your immune system, your mental health, your metabolism, your bone density, your heart health, your blood pressure, your energy levels and how you fight disease genreally. In the last few years, there have been some significant highs and lows, but I do think what I’m grateful for is that in adversity, you learn a huge amount. If] you know that a decision would have a certain outcome and it was a negative outcome, you wouldn’t make that decision a lot of the time. With schools re-opening in England next week, the commitment to accelerating investment in Mental Health Support Teams cannot come soon enough. Aster, part of the Octopus Publishing Group, has signed The Mind Manual: Mental Fitness Tools for Everyone by Dr Alex George.

Mind Manual: THE NEW BOOK FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES The Mind Manual: THE NEW BOOK FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES

Lana, YoungMinds Activist, says: “It was an absolute privilege to be given the opportunity to talk to the Prime Minister and Dr Alex on a topic I’m so passionate about - I can’t wait to see what the future of children and young people’s mental health holds! With detailed sections dedicated to informing us on how our mental health can impact our physical health, and what we can change in our day-to-day lifestyle choices to combat this, The Mind Manual is a must have toolkit for anyone looking to take their first steps towards a brighter, healthier and happier future. George, now 32, is currently presenting Channel 4’s body positivity show, Naked Education, he has a huge following on social media (2 million on Instagram; over 100,000 on YouTube) along with his listeners to his ‘Stompcast’ podcast, in which he interviews people about their mental health while walking his cavapoo, Rolo.But I think sometimes, it’s really, really important to remember that just because your identity is a part of your life, it doesn’t have to be your identity your whole life.

Alex George: Five months of sobriety has made a ‘huge Dr Alex George: Five months of sobriety has made a ‘huge

Sometimes, you have to walk through hell," he says, "It sounds really dark, but in some ways, through difficult experiences, you learn a lot about yourself. Plus I'm trying to work in hospital [at the same time],” and, as he says, by 2021, barely a year after his brother has gone, “I was in an incredibly dark place. He’s also tirelessly campaigned for suicide prevention awareness and better early intervention for people with mental health issues, after his 19-year-old brother Llŷr died by suicide in 2020.This has been an extremely challenging twelve months for young people across the country, which has had a profound impact on their mental health. I didn’t like how alcohol made me feel," George, who also hosts the walking and wellness podcast Stompcast, says. Suicide has not been a crime since the sixties and we aren’t supposed to be a society that criminalises people for being mentally ill. I had a chap in a talk say to me recently: ‘Kids these days don’t know how lucky they are, how about the kids who grew up in the World Wars? We hope that today’s meeting will be an important step towards ensuring every child who is struggling with their mental health can get the support they need.

The Mind Manual: Mental Fitness Tools for Everyone

After studying law at Oxford University, he qualified as a solicitor and has worked as a lawyer in Paris and London. On bullying we talk for a long time, about the multiple, unremitting, “nuanced” and insidious ways it can manifest in young people’s lives in the digital age. And we're surprised that when they're in a position of mental struggle, when they're weak, that they can't talk about it. His family thinks his brother was about to start taking medication before he died but patient confidentiality has meant they can’t be certain. Alex is a resident presenter on ITV's Lorraine, has presented for Watchdog and also appeared on Celebrity Masterchef.

For George, that means walking ("a lifeline for me"), a few close friends and hiit classes at the gym. Browse our online range including our range of mental health resources, wedding favours, Pause for Mind and greetings cards. It has been a tough year, but the NHS is here for children’s mental health, and with the help of Dr Alex and our partners in health, education and charities, we will keep working hard to make sure every child in this country get the mental health support that they deserve.