Welcome to episode 230 with Sophie Scott, who is a practicing transpersonal psychotherapist and the Founder of Balance, an award-winning wellness media brand working to bring mental and physical wellbeing to the masses. Sophie is also the author of ‘You Are Not Alone in This’ a book aimed at the partners, parents, siblings and children of people who are suffering, that offers practical ideas on how to support a loved one with their mental health without losing your own. In this episode I chat to Sophie about her own experience of growing up around mental illness and having to support family members through challenging times and how that inspired her book. We chat about how to start difficult conversations, how to be there for someone and the messy feelings that come with caring for someone you love. We talk about burnout, compassion fatigue, cognitive distortions, warning signs and safety plans and taking a holistic approach to mental health. This is an important part of the mental health conversation that is neglected and forgotten about and as someone who’s mental health has played havoc with his family over the years, I know full well how useful knowing some of this stuff would have been for the people in my life when I was unwell. I stumbled across Sophie’s book in my local library and knew straight away that it would make an impactful and insightful episode.  It’s a wonderful book, with loads of ideas and tools, and I highly recommend giving it a read! Follow Sophie on social media @sophie.b.scott Learn more about her work and book here:  www.sophiescott.co You can connect with me on social media @propermentalpodcast or via www.propermentalpodcast.com. You can support the show and help me to keep it independent and ad free by buying a coffee at www.buymeacoffee.com/propermental Another great way to support the show and spread the word is to rate, review and subscribe on whatever platform you get your podcasts from. If you or anyone you know needs to find support in your local area, please go to www.hubofhope.co.uk Thanks for listening!