Without great support around you, right from the start, it can be easy for you to experience poor mental health outcomes if you have dyslexia.
Dyslexia can impact on your mental health in a number of ways, including:
- career wellbeing
- financial wellbeing
- physical wellbeing
- social and community connections
- psychological and emotional wellbeing.
Clearly, that list covers most parts of life, and they all overlap – one example could be if you have had challenges completing school, you may have limited career options, which could impact your financial wellbeing, and will probably make you a bit miserable; or you have a job but you are afraid to let people know you have dyslexia, which could lead to you feeling stressed and anxious about your work.
However, not everyone who has dyslexia has problems in all those areas, or all at once. If you have dyslexia, you probably already know which particular area or areas are the ones where you need a bit of extra attention.
Managing these ‘problem areas’ is where your supports come into play, whether that’s the strategies you use, or the people you turn to, or both. For me, I have found that my dyslexia has had an impact in all six of the areas listed at the top of the page at one time or another. That has meant that sometimes, I’ve needed every single piece of support I can get! Read on for more information about the things that you and the people around you can do.