Mental illnesses affects 1 in 4 people. A lot of us know that they are more common than most people think. Everyday, many people who suffer from a mental illness face stigma and discrimination whether it be in work, in public, with friends. This is because too many people either don't understand and want to learn more, or don't understand because they refuse to learn more. However, there are definitely ways in which we can all change that. Mental health is so important, just as important as physical health and it really should not go unnoticed. By raising awareness not only can we educate those who don't understand, but also we can encourage and give confidence to those suffering to reach out and talk about what they are going through.

1. Talk about it. Talk about mental health and illnesses and encourage people not to be judgemental. To add to this, kindly educate those around you on how to talk about illnesses as this is something that I feel needs to be encouraged more. Far too often you will find that many people don't know how to approach the topic, whether it be difficult for them or they just don't understand.

2. Talk to others about how they are feeling. Start with your loved ones, check in on how they are doing regularly. If you know someone who is struggling with a mental illness, reach out to them especially. Be supportive and always make sure to listen to those close to you.

3. Learn the signs and symptoms of mental illnesses. Know what to watch out for not only in others but yourself.

4. If there is a way in your community that you can raise awareness or support your own mental health by donating your time to others. I helped out in a mental health charity shop once where they were talking and educating others on mental health. I'm not a professional whatsoever but I was able to share my story. I'm not the most confident person and talking to others can be extremely difficult for me - I usually avoid it in any way I can, but I knew it was something that could be of help to someone.

5. Sharing your story. This is something that I am slowly finding the confidence to do. It is a scary thing, but so so helpful to not only others, but yourself. For you, it is a way to let out everything you keep to yourself, everything you want to tell people but have been to afraid. For others, it shows them that it is more than okay to reach out for help, to talk about how they're feeling or what they have been through. Not only that but it will give hope to others and remind them that above all, they are not alone.
I have learned that there is nothing to be ashamed of when sharing your story. It takes time. But only do it if you feel ready to. Never feel as if you are being pressured into sharing things that you don't want to.

You can read stories that have been shared here; Time to Change or Mind

6. Share a link on your social media. It doesn't matter how many facebook friends you have, how many people follow your twitter, Instagram or whatever social media platform you have. One post could impact so many, all it takes is the first share. It could be a link to the ones I shared above with other peoples stories. It could be to a facebook group. A charity page. An online forum/mental health community. Even a blog post. Just think that by sharing one thing online, you could be helping someone who is either struggling themselves, or wants to help someone they love, etc.


Anything you do - and there is nothing too small or too big - to start the conversation about mental health will make a huge impact. So, let's rise above the stigma together.


Thank you so much for reading,

for any more information on how to raise awareness for mental health, get involved with Mind or Nami, or a mental health charity local to you.

Until next time, be you and keep smiling.

Trigger/Content Warnings:

• Negative perceptions on mental illnesses which in no way I believe in/ nor are true but could cause someone struggling to believe to be true.
• Mental Illnesses

Image Credit: coastal west sussex mind

Stigma: Negative stereotypes about a group of people.

People with mental health problems experience stigma and discrimination on a daily basis. Unfortunately, people who discriminate against those who suffer from a mental illness fail to realise how severe and completely real mental illnesses are. Mental health problems are already difficult to deal with so you can imagine how worse it is with the stigma surrounding it from people who do not completely understand it.

This negative perception often projects the attitude that a person suffering from a mental illness is dangerous, strange, violent. They also often humiliate, degrade and exclude them. How does this affect mental health? Well, these negative perceptions makes it harder for someone to speak up and seek help. All I want to know is, why would anyone want to contribute to these negative experiences? As I said in an earlier post from last year (which you can read here), we should be opening the door to mental health, support and understanding. We should be opening the door for people dealing with these illnesses and showing them that they are worth the recovery and help and that they shouldn't be afraid. What we should not be doing is closing the door to the issue that people seem to be misunderstanding.

Stigma isolates people. Stigma leads to low self esteem. Stigma can stop people from getting and even keeping their jobs. Stigma stops people from seeking help. Stigma makes people afraid and creates the fear of rejection. This needs to stop! People need to feel like there is a safe and friendly place that they can go to to seek help. People need to know that there is support out there and I feel like it's everyone's job to show that bit of reassurance.

What's completely infuriating, is that if you had a broken bone you would be on the way to the hospital immediately without any hesitation or second thought. You would be treated instantly, with the utmost care and support and you would be asked to come back for a check up after a long rest at home and all cast up. You wouldn't worry about what people thought and you wouldn't be afraid of any stigma or discrimination attached to your condition. You would have people sympathising you and checking up on you, asking how you are doing and whatnot. Yet those who suffer from a mental illness most of the time do not receive this level of support. When someone bravely seeks help, they are usually put on waiting lists from weeks to months on end. (Please do not let this discourage you from seeking help, this isn't the case for everyone and factors vary). Also a lot of the time, for example someone with depression will be told to just 'stop being sad' or to 'just deal with it'.

Mental Illnesses are just as real as physical illnesses, remember that.

How can we stop the stigmatisation and discrimination of mental health? 

Well, we are quite a way off stamping out the stigma, there's a long way to go but it's definitely not impossible. I do hope that one day all these negative perceptions cease to exist.

However, there are so many things that we as a community can do. We can raise awareness.

How, you ask?

• Start the conversation! - with your family, friends, teachers (oh do I have a lot to say about this one in tomorrow's post), work colleagues about mental health stigma.
• Talk about your story. If you yourself have dealt/are dealing with a mental illness or you know someone who has/is, speak up. You don't have to! But things like this inspires people and they learn from it. It's a big step but don't think of the negative perceptions, think of only the positive impact and the courage you'd be showing. Don't be afraid to tell your story.
• When you witness stigmatising behaviour, find that bit of courage and confidence inside you and challenge it. People can learn.
• Volunteer for Mental Health charities, campaigns and so on. For more information, visit 1 and 2 (examples). There are so many charities, campaigns and people you can work with. 
• Be aware of the language you use. Using mental illnesses as adjectives takes the severity away from the issue. Refer to this post I wrote last year for more information.

This years theme for Mental Health Awareness Week is relationships. Healthy, supportive and overall good relationships are important as they are a big contribution to good mental health and well being.

Having someone you can talk to about whatever you are going through and is on your mind is a major key, but sometimes we do feel like there's no one out there who will understand us, or we're afraid of what someone might think and so on. The truth is, though, that we are never alone and there will always be someone who understands more than you think if you are just willing to explain.

In the past year or so, I have learnt that surrounding yourself with people who encourage and support you rather than being super negative and trying to bring you down is the key to a good relationship, which has resulted in me feeling a lot better about myself and the things I'm dealing with. Their happiness radiates to you, and not only that but you all learn how to support each other through everything and be there for one another. If a relationship is making you feel awful, it is a sign of an unhealthy relationship. If you recognise that you are unhappy in these environments, this can help you move forward and find a solution. Remember it's more than okay to put yourself first and take yourself out of a negative environment.

I have an incredible small group of friends who are always there for me despite my bad days and previous even worse days, they're supportive of my goals and things I'm dealing with and I appreciate it immensely.

Set yourself 3 resolutions to help improve your relationship with either your family or guardians, friends, teachers, colleagues, boyfriend/girlfriend and so on. They don't have to be big resolutions that you're worried you won't keep, start off small and see where it gets you!

For example, here's mine:

• Listen to others 
• Be honest about how I feel
• Spend more time with close family and friends

source

May 16 - May 22 is Mental Health Awareness Week (Although, I do feel like it should be every week...) but anyway, as someone who is extremely passionate about raising awareness for mental health, I will only be posting about topics related to Mental Health this week.

In recent years, the Mental Health Foundation have helped generate conversations around anxiety, sleep deprivation and exercise, but this year the 'theme' is relationships, so my first post (which will be going live tomorrow) will of course, be based on relationships.

I think it's crucial that we raise as much awareness for mental health as we can every day. Our mental health and well being is super important but we are forever fighting the stigma and discrimination of mental health, so it's about time we took a stand and hopefully continue the conversation of mental health daily, one step at a time.

I hope that my posts can help raise awareness in some way. I created this blog so that I could talk about the things that I am passionate about, and this is one of them.

Thank you for reading,

Until next time be you and keep smiling.




For more information on Mental Health Awareness Week, click here.

I wasn't going to post until next week, however my friend brought this petition to my attention. This won't be a long post, but I do want to talk a bit about this.

If you know me personally, on Twitter, or you have read my blog posts you will surely know that I do whatever I can to raise awareness for Mental Health, so when this petition was brought to my attention I did not hesitate to sign it.

Mental Health should be added to National Curriculum because I really feel that people should be educated on mental health from their last years at school, at least. It is so important for young (and older, of course) people to know how they can seek help instead of suffering in silence, what mental health is, etc. in order to reduce stigma in society as a whole and to help people realise how important knowing about mental health really is.

I don't remember being spoken to about mental health in school at all. We weren't educated on it. Instead, I taught and educated myself on it. But for a lot of my peers at school, they were not educated meaning that they basically would be ignorant to the real issue that is there rather than understanding what it is.
We were taught about 'speaking up' about bullying and such, but what about 'speaking up' about mental health disorders? I do remember asking a question about mental health one time, I think I was in year 9 but my teacher dismissed it. She said, 'We'll save that for another time' - end of conversation. I was shocked mainly because I knew how important it was to talk about mental health, but unfortunately it was not on the curriculum so teachers couldn't teach us.

But, hopefully this will change soon. With your help, if you are from the UK then please sign this petition (https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/104545). If you are not a UK resident, please share this post/the petition and hopefully this issue will be considered for debate in Parliament very soon.


Thank you for reading, I really appreciate it.

Until next time, be you and keep smiling.

Tiffany x

(Part one to my Mental Health Awareness post)



Today I am going to talk about how using Mental Illnesses as adjectives is wrong. This is in fact a topic in which I feel strongly about so I do have a lot to say, which is why this post will be a two-part.

Almost every day I hear someone use a mental illness as a figure of speech - not out of hostility, but out of ignorance and frankly it is so wrong. When you decide to take a mental illness and thoughtlessly describe something such as a behavior, personality or anything at all that hasn't a relevance with the disorder itself, please understand that you are blatantly treating the illness as if it is unimportant and this takes the severity away from something that is a serious struggle for many people.

I asked my followers on Twitter about this topic as I was very much interested in their opinions. Every one of them who answered had a very similar answer, that using mental illnesses as descriptors is:

• 'unacceptable'
• 'insulting' 
• 'disrespectful'
• 'takes the seriousness away which creates a misunderstanding around them'
• 'it's a shame that it's 2015 and mental illnesses still aren't taken seriously enough'
• 'It could make someone suffering from a mental illness feel like they and their illness aren't taken seriously, like people are joking around about it - which sadly is the case most of the time'. 
• 'As someone that has dealt with and is still dealing with depressive and anxiety/panic disorders, I find it pretty upsetting when someone says things like "my concert is over, i'm so depressed" or "I seriously just had a panic attack" when they've never experienced depression or panic attacks before in their life. They make it seem like depression and panic attacks are no big deal when they really are'.

We always hear 'Oh, that's so depressing', or 'I'm depressed about..'. As well as, 'oh that gives me such bad social anxiety', 'you are so bipolar' or even 'my OCD is kicking in.' etc.

PLEASE. STOP. DOING. THIS.

The only time we should be talking about mental illnesses is when we are talking about the illness and the people who are impacted by it, not as descriptors.

Here is a list of words that should be used instead:

1.) Depressed

Some people think that this is just having a bad day, tired, or stressed out.
For example, "I'm so depressed today, I hate school", or "Ugh, this is so depressing'.
This isn't how it is. Depression isn't feeling sad for one or two days, it is a long term illness.

Here's a small list of more accurate words that can be used:

• down
• sad
• unhappy
• upset
• disheartened
• blue

Note: If you are suffering from a mental illness, please know that there are always people who can help. Please don't be afraid to reach out for help, You are not alone, no matter how much you think you are. 


Thank you for reading, if you have anything to add to this post or would like me to add, please comment or tweet me. My main Twitters are @giventhewrld @crimjnalminds @zappedlouve

- T .x