Mental health issues are a very common thing, yet it is still a taboo subject and stigma is still directed towards those who suffer. In the UK, 1 in 4 people will experience some kind of mental health issue in a year according to www.mentalhealth.org.uk; that's a quarter of us and yet there seems to be so little understanding and it's all a bit 'hush hush'. This needs to change.
So what can we do? We can talk.
Talking is how we can stop it being an 'awkward' topic. The more we talk, we more awareness there is and therefore more people can understand. That's a lot of the problem, there is just a lack of understanding of the issue which can lead to stigma.
Mental illness is serious, it is real and it affects a lot of us but we can change this.
I've noticed that more recently people are starting to say bits about mental health. I've seen adverts on the TV from a campaign not long ago and a guy on a game show winning a lot of money for the charity 'Mind'. When I hear things like this, I smile because I know we are moving forward, slowly, but there is movement. As I suffer from mental health issues myself and know people around me who do as well, this is something that I am very passionate about. Let'd do this guys.
#stopthestigma
#timetotalk
