Shirley Billson: 3 Blunders that Trash Your Family's Mental Wealth

Shirley Billson is the 57-year old founder of The Mental Wealth Factory, dedicated to creating mental wealth in young people between 14 and 26, so they can thrive.

As a child, she had 'normal, caring parents' but constant arguments affected her. When she was 15, she was prescribed anti-depressants but didn't know why. At 17, she took an overdose of prescription drugs. Between 16 and 25, she experienced bullying. At 25, she was in an abusive relationship.

Her mental poverty impacted on her self-belief, which impacted on every part of her life for more than 40 years, until she learned how to create mental wealth.

About our discussion she says, "We spend thousands of dollars each year on 'luxuries, including holidays, gadgets, gifts, cars and the latest 'must-haves'. We invest in property, shares, business, education and healthcare, considering much of that expenditure as essential.  Yet we invest next to nothing in our own mental wealth - or that of our children.  Worse than that, most of us are making three key blunders that are setting us - and our families - up for future mental health issues. And it is within our power to change it if we are willing to think differently."