Reducing the stigma around mental health
By Heidi Pratt On Monday 27th February at 12:43pm we turned my daughter’s life support off. I was lucky though. My daughter managed to hold on for 10 days giving her sister, father and I a chance to say goodbye. A little bit of me died with her that day. Continue Reading
Anyone who has had a mental health condition will know the stigma that comes with it. For many though this stigma is only there due to a lack of knowledge or appreciation if what mental illness is really like. We use the words depressed, ocd, anxiety etc with dual meanings, because Continue Reading
By Charlotte Edmunds So, here I am first night back at work, its been a mix of signed off and planned annual leave. I’d like to say I’m coping… I’m not. I work in a dementia home, on nights. It used to be lovely. But as the poor residents decline, Continue Reading
By Anonymous Depression has been with me since my teens. It has been a constant companion for the past 52 years. I have lost family and friends, but the depression is always there, hanging around in the background, gradually, creeping up like a black warm blanket, enveloping me in its Continue Reading
By Ellen Cleary I resent depression for cropping up and stealing from me those moments which should have been my happiest. It doesn’t pick its days. It’s there when you have a free day and when you don’t. For a long time, I even wondered whether I had it at Continue Reading
By Anonymous They say the only way is up, once you’ve hit rock bottom. But how do you know for sure that where you’ve hit, really is rock bottom? I thought I’d hit rock bottom back when I was just 16 years old. At the time, I hadn’t ever felt Continue Reading
By Hannah I’m still here I woke up with my husband and parents surrounding my hospital bed. I didn’t understand. I was supposed to die. It didn’t work. Not again. Why? The spiral It all began to go downhill when I stopped sleeping. The thoughts intensified until I couldn’t cope Continue Reading
By Anonymous I fell pregnant with my first child in 2011. A fortnight later I found out my mother had cancer. I juggled late pregnancy and early motherhood along with caring for my own mum and dealing with the tumultuous emotions that came with it all. No surprise that I Continue Reading
By Anonymous So many people have told me this- “It Gets Better”. And for the longest period of time, I would cast aside this comment as something so shallow, so misunderstanding because it simply did not make any sense. For years I have suffered from depression. Anxiety followed and would Continue Reading
By Steve My name is Steve. I have have diagnosed with boarderline personality problems for a few years now. One minute I could be ok, the next I could be a nasty person. My wife says I change in a evil way and am not nice. The world around me Continue Reading
By Charlotte Edmunds Ahhh yes Hello, me again. So me and my depression/anxiety/low mood/bipolar : whatever you want to call it are quickly becoming BFF’s again. I am what some may call high functioning with off days. Whilst I can generally get on with life, I shy away from things Continue Reading
By AmysBoarderlineWorld Dear husband, This letter is for you. A letter of thanks but also apologies. Living with my mental health issues is at time unbearable, but trying to love someone who has them, well, I don’t know how you do it. I know you feel a huge pressure to Continue Reading