Welcome to the first edition of our monthly Mental Health and Wellbeing section in the OIU newsletter. Earlier this year, the OIU expressed its desire to make a meaningful contribution to the mental health, wellness, and social resilience of our community. We've decided to take a primarily awareness and education-focused approach, offering a variety of initiatives such as guest speakers at events, podcast interviews, educational courses, insightful articles, and regular social gatherings. Our aim is to destigmatize mental health, foster a deeper understanding of various mental health illnesses, promote healthy habits that can enhance mental well-being, and strengthen our community's social resilience.

We value the input of our members and would love to hear your suggestions for interesting articles, stories from OIU members who might be willing to share their mental health journeys, potential programs, speaker recommendations, or anything else related to broader mental wellness.

To kick off this initiative, we'd like to help our members gain a better understanding of bipolar disorder. Stephen Fry, the acclaimed English actor and a prominent advocate for mental health awareness, has been open about his own journey with bipolar disorder. He produced a two-part documentary titled "Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive" in 2006, followed by "A Not So Secret Life of a Manic Depressive" in 2016.

Links to these documentaries can be found below: 

• Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive Part 1

• Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive Part 2

• A Not So Secret Life of a Manic Depressive 

For our younger members, Australian cricketer Glenn Maxwell has been very open about his experiences with anxiety and mild depression. Recently, he took a break from this year's IPL to focus on his mental health. 

A compelling interview with Harsha Bhogle, in which Maxwell discusses the pressures of cricket and its impact on his mental well-being, can be found here.