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hello there I students welcome to I
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podcast you no longer have to worry
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threat or Panic about I Els because we
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finless online course you can visit us
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vocabulary in this tutorial we are going
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to look at one of those weird little
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topics you've probably never ever
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thought about before in your life and
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this is just perfect you know if you get
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a task two question uh related to this
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topic that we're going to cover right
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now then you're going to have
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ideally some ideas to pull on some
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vocabulary some collocations
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and if we're lucky you'll even use the
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grammar point that we are going to very
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covered so today's topic is all about
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awareness how bizarre how weird you're
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totally right there totally agree with
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you but you know um you've got two
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options here you want to boost your
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vocabulary you know it's an issue
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um you can you know go to the BBC as I
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said every day read articles or you can
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just cover uh consume a ton of these Al
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vocabulary tutorials and just get sort
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of like a top level view get the
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vocabulary you needed and it is kind of
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a shortcut and I'm not a massive fan of
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shortcuts but I know what it's like to
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be I know what most of my students the
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situ they're in is like ah I've gots in
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two weeks and you know so and the good
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thing is here you can do this passively
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while you're driving while you're
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commuting spend 20 minutes with me right
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here right now and you can get a a rough
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idea about the topic of mental health
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the awareness uh our campaigns related
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awareness and most importantly some
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vocabulary so let's get started by the
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way if this is your first time listening
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to 's podcast with me Ben Worthington
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then I'll just very briefly tell you who
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I am my name is Ben I'm from the UK I
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lived outside of the UK I sorted out my
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accident so people could understand me
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and so I could become a teacher because
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when I left I was um yeah it was a very
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Northern accent just because where I
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grew up quickly realized it's not very
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fair to teach students since my accident
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so it got smoothed out a bit now most
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students understand me
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and yeah I lived outside of the UK for
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around 20 years I'm back in the UK now
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and uh back with my family but during
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those 20 years most of them were spent
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preparing students for the a exam and
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I'm still doing it there still every now
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and again there's a space for a private
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class I don't take on that many I just
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want to keep my skills sharp and I do
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enjoy it and I get inspiration for
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future tutorials and in fact I had a
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student who always suffered with my mind
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goes blank and she was the inspiration
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for doing these IELTS vocabulary
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tutorials so let's get started mental
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health so mental health is pretty much a
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critical aspect of your overall
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well-being and it often Remains
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overshadowed by physical health concerns
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you know such as cancer diabetes and all
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the rest of it so what we're going to do
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is just look at the role of public
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campaigns and um just looking at sort of
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like you know the pros and cons of these
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and basically the attitudes towards
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mental health issues so the grammar
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cover is um conjunctions we're going to
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look sorry not conjunctions we're going
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to look at adverbial Clauses which I
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guess they could be called conjunctions
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actually uh so these Clauses often begin
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with conjunctions um such as although
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while whereas and are crucial for adding
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some complexity and depth to an argument
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by discussing opposing viewpoints or
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outcomes let me share a few model
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using these uh Clauses so we could start
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off with although many people are aware
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of mental health education comma public
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stigma reduction is still a significant
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challenge great vocabulary there mental
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health education public stigma reduction
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so in that sentence we've got
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one we've got two sort of like views
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acknowledging um people are aware Ware
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of it um there's people are aware of
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mental health education there is still
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basically it's still a a challenge
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there's still a challenge attached to
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the stigma of mental health stigma is
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sort of like the opinion or the
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connotations Associated around it so I
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mean traditionally if you were driving a
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scoda uh there's a lot of stigma
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attached to it because a scad this
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reputation of being a cheap man's car or
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a ladder um nowadays that stigma um that
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those connotations are no more because
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SC does pretty decent C anyway let's
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move on whereas mental health advocacy
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has grown treatment accessibility has
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not improved at the same rate so again
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very similar to the last one we've got
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two Clauses there two contrasting views
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and this sets us up we probably wouldn't
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Set uh start off our our body paragraph
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with this but we could definitely
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include something like this in the
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second sentence and then start
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developing the argument next sentence
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early while we start off with while
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while early intervention strategies are
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effective they are often underfunded and
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undervalued by public health
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policies intervention strategies how
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good is that next sentence even though
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Community Support networks are stronger
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than ever isolation and loneliness
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continue to impact me mental health
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significantly so there are commas in
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these I'm trying to remember to say it
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but it's not very natural to speak and
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then say comma so forgive me if I'm
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two whereas awareness campaign
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Effectiveness is increasing comma actual
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changes in healthc care policy reform
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are lagging behind lagging behind great
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little phrase there healthc care policy
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reform great collocation um awareness
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campaign Effectiveness so this goes back
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to a tutorial I did a while back of like
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you know expanding your vocabulary by
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using different versions of the word so
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we've got effective effectively
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Effectiveness uneffective une
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Effectiveness and so on and so forth
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just by knowing the root and just by
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knowing the rulle the formulas and how
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vocabulary next sentence although there
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are numerous social inclusion
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initiatives comma emotional well-being
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is often not prioritized in schools and
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workplaces beautiful next sentence while
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public stigma reduction initiatives are
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widespread it's quite a mouthful of that
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sentence while public stigma reduction
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initiatives are widespread personal
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biases and Mis understandings still
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Prevail that's pretty much a banine
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sentence there in my own opinion Prevail
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as higher level uh vocabulary right
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there next sentence even though the
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importance of mental health education is
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recognized comma many individuals lack
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information so we've again got those two
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Contra uh contrasting Clauses in that
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sentence it's a higher level sentence
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and all we have to do is just put two
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sides of our opinion um either side of
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the comma and just start the sentence
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with that adverbial clause whereas
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Community Support networks can provide
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help comma many people with mental
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health issues go without adequate
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support that's so true actually just
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looking back uh over my life as a lot of
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people I know mental problems and they
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never really got the support they needed
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so maybe if you want to take this a step
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further you could just put like um
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campaigns Bhutan mental health campaigns
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Germany or whichever country you're from
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and just get an overview you've probably
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never ever thought about it uh I'm
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guessing or you might not ever be aware
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of campaigns and I strongly recommend
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just doing this it'll take like five or
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10 minutes you could get the you know
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you could get even more vocabulary you
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could get some terms you could find out
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a little bit more final sentence
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although awareness campaign
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evident there is still a long way to go
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in achieving widespread Health Care
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policy reform Health Care policy reform
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great little collocation let's just
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review some of these collocations again
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mental health advocacy
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reduction early intervention strategies
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nipping it in the bud as we we could
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also say in spoken English uh but
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obviously for a I writing test TOA we're
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going to do um we're going to say early
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intervention strategies mental health
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education Community Support networks
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treatment accessibility awareness
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Effectiveness super I mean we can stick
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that into an essay about climate change
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you know solutions for climate change a
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public awareness campaign however public
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awareness campaign Effectiveness has to
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be Paramount in order to achieve success
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and so on and so forth healthc care
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policy reform again very versatile we
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can say climate change policy reform we
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could say crime uh Rehabilitation policy
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reform we talk about higher education
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policy reform very versatile emotional
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well-being and finally social inclusion
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initiatives let's just have a look at
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some of the pros and cons regarding
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mental health public awareness campaigns
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and try to expand on these you know
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there's going to be a lot of pros and a
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lot of cons that we could adapt to other
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such as as I just mentioned climate
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change higher education trans transport
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social media mobile phone addiction so
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on and so forth so let's go uh the pros
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of a mental health public awareness
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campaign would be it increases public
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knowledge of mental health
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issues reduces stigma associated with
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mental illness encourages individuals to
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seek help early promotes more inclusive
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workplaces strengthens Community Support
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networks supports the development of
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better treatment options encourages
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empathy and understanding among the
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population helps integrate mental health
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healthare so on and so forth some of the
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cons it might oversimplify complex M
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mental health conditions it could lead
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to misinformation if not well managed
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misinform is a great little um verb
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there we can definitely use this when
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we're talking about social media for
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example potential to focus too much on
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common disorders neglecting rare or
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severe conditions public campaigns may
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effectively so perhaps pause the
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tutorial here and just think about that
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one why this is what I've been working
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on with one of my students now just
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asking why once we've set our position
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why why why why develop it why wouldn't
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a public campaign m not reach all
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demographics effectively well teens
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probably have a bias for social media
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adults especially older adults probably
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have a bias for traditional forms such
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as newspapers and uh evening
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television so therefore the campaign
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would have to cover all different types
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uh of media in order to be effective
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okay so just a brief little argument
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there may increase public fears if
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negative aspects of mental illness are
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overemphasized resources for campaigns
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might detract from direct service
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funding I'm just going to add one of the
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cons which isn't on the list if you're
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reading the tutorial while you're
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and we can also talk about the cost of
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the public awareness campaign you know
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governments usually never have any money
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of course they've always got money for
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bombing and killing people that's just a
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side note but governments usually never
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are usually very tight on their money so
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we can talk about the cost of a public
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awareness campaign and would that money
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be better spent elsewhere in other
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programs such as education um Sports and
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Health Facilities so on and so
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forth final argument a public awareness
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campaign might not translate into
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long-term change and that's true mental
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health awareness campaign a climate
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change uh public awareness campaign any
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campaign it just might not translate
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change so there we go let's have a look
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now at some um model speaking questions
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and answers sample speaking questions
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why is public awareness about mental
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important public awareness is crucial
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because it helps break down the stigma
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associated with mental health issues if
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more people understood the challenges
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and realities of mental health public St
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stigma reduction could be more
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effectively achieved a great little
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sentence there we're using the
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structure and once you get a hang of
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these structures they're quite easy to
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use especially for the speaking and
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later we need to use you know refine it
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a little bit for the speaking H for the
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writing sorry to make sure that
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including it the right Point usually
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it's probably halfway through our body
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paragraph and we're just developing an
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our argument in a hypothetical manner in
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order to pick up points for using
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different grammatical structures next
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sentence should schools play a role in
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absolutely schools should be at the
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Forefront of mental health education
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providing students with knowledge about
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Mental Health could lead to early
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identification of issues and promote a
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generation now when you get a question
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speaking uh which starts with should and
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you're probably more likely to get it um
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in the middle of a part three uh
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speaking exam uh sorry in the part three
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section it's not a bad idea to start
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with absolutely it shows some conviction
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you can some intonation there pick up
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points and you can jump in with both
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feet especially if you agree with it
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absolutely definitely without a shadow
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of a doubt schools should be at the
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Forefront of mental health education and
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I've got a whole tutorial about this
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about speaking with emphatic structures
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what are the most effective Public
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public awareness strategies for mental
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health wow this is a typical one for
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like uh my mind goes blind
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okay what are the most effective public
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awareness strategy let's me let me just
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try and answer this without my notes let
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me put myself in your situation in your
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shoes for two minutes what are the most
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I've even had the luxury of thinking
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about it so I'm going to just go back on
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my my own I's education here I'm going
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to say I guess the most effective public
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awareness strategies for mental health
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be um a TV Campaign which covers a broad
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audience and I guess different media
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channels such as social media billboard
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advertising but I guess the real
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question would be the question of
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Effectiveness and for that I guess we
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just need measurement and
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control there we go uh I used a little
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technique there that I've shared in
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previous tutorials which buys yourself a
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few more seconds you start off with the
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question you rephrase the question from
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a question form to affirmative and you
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say well I guess the most effective
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public awareness strategies for mental
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be okay and if you need even more time
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you can use it more fillers like well to
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be honest never really thought about
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this before it's a difficult question I
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guess and then give yourself a few more
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seconds and hopefully by that time your
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subconscious is kicked in and you're
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going to give a an amazing answer
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and again when you're working with me
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privately uh we just drill this we get
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this automatic and then eventually as
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I've said in numerous other
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tutorials at first it will be robotic at
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first it's going to sound you're going
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to sound like an irritating parrot with
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no brain of your own but doing this
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enough times it starts becoming natural
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you don't sound robotic you start to
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learn how to modify parts of the answers
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with like a guess or I guess in this
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case the most effective public awareness
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strategies for mental health we could
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say I guess the most productive or
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effective public awareness campaigns or
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strategies you know just add some more
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vocabulary in there so you sound like a
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human being all right final question how
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have perceptions of mental health
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years I guess perceptions and opinions
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have changed over the years in the way
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that when I was younger it was never
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really anything that was spoken about or
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even mentioned however as I've gotten
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older I start seeing more campaigns and
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I think attitudes are slowly changing
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and possibly even becoming more
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accepting of mental health and the
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challenges associated with it so again
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there we just rephrase the question and
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gets us off to a good
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start gives us time to just think about
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the question digest it and come up with
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a coherent answer the other advantage of
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listening intently to the question is
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that you're going to answer the question
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that has been asked you're going to
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start off on the right track and you're
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not going to answer the question what
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you thought was asked you are far more
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likely to answer the exact exact
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question that has been asked and there
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we go I'm going to wrap it up now um I'm
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wishing you all the best with your IELTS
21:08
exam these tutorials are free I'm not
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charging you for them if you find them
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useful all I ask for in return is that
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you share it with a friend email it on
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share it on social media even tag me if
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6 thanks for listening tosp podcast.com