To support Time to Talk Day on 3 February 2022, our Creative Writing Group led by Michele has come up with a series of wonderful and heartfelt pieces discussing mental health stigma.
This first piece called “Kill the Stigma” is written by Chris.
“When Dave regained consciousness, he was dazed and confused. Trying to get the breathing apparatus off his face. But a large hand held it firmly in place. “You’re going to be needing that”. When Dave calmed down the nurse assigned to his bed in the intense care ward said, “You know what you have got is worse than Cancer”. At the time this seemed a pretty bold statement to make about someone’s mental health.
But many years later looking back on the statement Dave had to agree. After all, if you admit to people, you have Cancer the chances are they will bend over backwards to help you. If you have a Cancer relapse the chances are your long-term partner will stick by you. Being diagnosed with Cancer is not a barrier to getting or keeping a job. You don’t lose friends if you admit to having Cancer. If someone knows your Cancer diagnosis, they don’t automatically think you’re going to burn down a pub they see you in. No-one in a meeting says that you shouldn’t have a voluntary job that you’re overqualified for because you have a Cancer diagnosis.
Therefore, it is time to talk to educate all about mental health as 1 in 4 people have a mental health problem.
Kill the stigma, not the person.”
Want to celebrate Time to Talk Day with us?
Visit our Time to Talk Day page to hear about our plans or visit our blogs section to read our Time to Talk Day blog posts.
