Your Catastrophe Doesn’t Always Match Anyone Else’s

First published 10 October 2025

Today is World Mental Health Day, and this year’s theme focuses on “Access to Services—Mental Health in Catastrophes and Emergencies.”

But, when you hear “catastrophe,” what springs to mind?

Maybe we think of hurricanes, earthquakes, or perhaps the chaos of the 2020 lockdowns (the full impact of which we’re still trying to understand).

But here’s what often gets missed: your catastrophe doesn’t have to be everyone else’s catastrophe for it to be utterly devastating to you.

It could be a redundancy whilst everyone around you is thriving in their careers.

Perhaps it’s a relationship breakdown that nobody else saw coming.

It could be a health diagnosis, a financial crisis, or even something that appears small to others but has completely trampled all over your world.

The Oxford Dictionary defines a catastrophe as “an event causing great and usually sudden damage or suffering; a disaster.”

Notice it doesn’t specify scale.  It doesn’t require witness statements or a certain number of people affected to qualify.

Your catastrophe is valid simply because it is a catastrophe to you.

When Your System Goes into Crisis Mode

From a kinesiology perspective, when we experience our personal catastrophes, our body’s stress response doesn’t distinguish between a global pandemic and a private crisis.

Our meridian system responds to our perceived threat. 

The solar plexus chakra – the centre of personal power – can feel just as compromised whether we are facing a natural disaster or a deeply personal emergency. 

Continuing on with the Metal element, this governs our ability to let go and process grief. When catastrophe strikes, regardless of its scope, our Metal element often becomes imbalanced, leaving us feeling disconnected, unable to breathe fully, or stuck in overwhelming emotion.

I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t sound all that comfortable to me!

The Problem of Invisible Emergencies

A challenge with personal catastrophes is that they’re often invisible to others.

You might be drowning whilst appearing perfectly functional on the outside (so many of us are so good at wearing a mask to hide behind so that no one can see how we feel!).

Another ‘fun’ twist is when your crisis doesn’t match the collective experience; it can feel isolating to reach out for help and make you question what’s wrong with you as you don’t seem to be responding in the same way as everyone else (I refer you back to the masks I mentioned above!).

This is exactly why knowing what support is available to you – before you need it – is so crucial.

Your Mental Health Emergency Kit

Here’s what I invite you to do this week:

Create your Mental Health Emergency Contacts list. Think of it as your emotional first aid kit. My suggestions of what to include:

• Crisis helplines (Samaritans: 116 123, Breathing Space: 0800 83 85 87)
• Your GP and any therapists or practitioners you work with (obviously, I am at the top of this list! 😉)
• Trusted friends or family members (I can’t stress how important it is not to overlook this – and collating this list when you are feeling OK is crucial, when you aren’t feeling so good you may reach out to the ‘wrong’ people, or even believe that little voice in your head that you don’t have anyone in your corner – future you will eventually thank you for creating this now!)
• Online support communities or resources
• And don’t forget that 999 is available as well as NHS 24 (111) if you need non-urgent medical advice out of hours.

Then here’s the important bit: share my contact details with at least three people you know.

They might need their own emergency kit, and they might not know where to start building it.

Because here’s the truth—we all need support sometimes. And knowing where to find it before the storm hits makes all the difference.

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If you’re in the middle of your own catastrophe right now, please reach out. 

Your crisis matters, regardless of who else is or isn’t experiencing it.