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I wanted to write and talk about my experiences of depression and discrimination as a young adult. I started self harming when I was 16 and had recently started Sixth Form College. My parents were told and they were shocked and disgusted. I was punished for this and had my MP3 and my television taken off me. I was accused of being an attention seeker and this event ruined my A level grades.

I do not work in a school environment but I do have two daughters - one still a teenager and one who is a young adult.

Over the years, I have heard the use different words to describe friends and peers. I have taken each word on its merits and I guess on whether or not it has ‘pushed my buttons’.

Words that children and teenagers use are not generally meant in an unkind way when they are said as part of banter ... The problem arises I think when they are used to hurt deliberately

So, I’m sat on the sofa on a Sunday morning, bleary eyed and (Time to Change) mug of hot chocolate in hand, digesting what happened the day before. Yesterday I came out to the public as 1 in 4. I didn’t know what to expect, or how I would react... never mind the reaction of those I told my story to! But let me tell you this, I was not expecting the result I got from being part of the Time To Change Village on Southbank.

I worked as a Nursing Assistant in Acute Mental Health, Elderly Mental Health & Forensic Mental Health since 1989 to 2007. Within this time I was seconded to university to study to become a Registered Mental Health Nurse. This is where my eyes began to open regarding my own mental well being.

Oh my god, am I mad? Probably, but I don't really care. I have made the decision to climb Ben Nevis next year, to raise money for MIND. My husband and son have been away fishing for the weekend, and I have just phoned him to tell him the news! Bless him, I think he's scared to leave me to my own devices for long as he never knows what I will come up with next!

In 2007 I was managing a women’s refuge. I was really enjoying my job and was very passionate about it. However I was having some problems with work colleagues and bullying.

I have always thought that the mental health scene mirrors the movement for Gay Rights in very many ways. 

I have depression, and sometimes one of the hardest things is the thought that there isn’t somewhere or someone I feel truly safe to talk through my experiences with.

I am subject to a gagging order. My employers thought it prudent to offer me a settlement and silence me by contract to ensure that I never utter a seditious line.

So here we go. I will tell you what I know.

For eight years I worked as a teacher. I was considered popular, if a little eccentric, with staff and students alike. Management had even described me as inspirational! I was involved in all aspects of the work from classroom teaching to organising school sports teams, overseas trips and excursions in the great outdoors.

When I was a young boy, pop star Adam Ant was one of my heroes. My dad delights in recalling how I used to jump off our sofa, emulating the highwayman’s leap onto a horse in the video for Stand and Deliver, which I loved watching on Top of the Pops.

It’s now 100 years since the term “schizophrenia” was first used, but with so many people affected by the condition still getting a raw deal in almost every area of their lives and still suffering from stigma and discrimination, sadly it’s not much of a happy anniversary.

People sometimes question why we need to focus on the 'stigma of mental illness' when we already have ideas like discrimination and prejudice. People ask; 'Aren't you just inventing a new kind of prejudice that only applies to people with mental health difficulties? Surely it's more important to change laws than change attitudes?'

Last Tuesday, Time To Change held a Lived Experience networking event at London’s RichMix venue; it was an opportunity for Time To Change supporters with lived experiences of mental health issues to come together to share ideas, make contacts and talk about future plans. I sit here, having just arrived home from the event, and the only word I believe truly describes how I feel about the event is…awesome.

Try shutting your eyes and imagining a life sized forest constructed out of chicken wire with thousands of brightly coloured buttons as the leaves. It sounds completely mad but we are making it a reality! The Button Forest is an ambitious and unique art intallation project which aims to challenge stigma and discrimination. Each button represents a person who has a mental illness. When people walk through the forest it will be a powerful demonstration that as many as 1 in 4 people will suffer from a mental illness during their life.

Time to Change Champion Kate Wilkinson reviews Shakespeare's Globe's production of 'Bedlam' and reflects on how attitudes and treatments have changed...

Erik tells us about his experiences with mental health stigma and why he chose to work with Time to Change on a social experiment.

Erik, 30, was born in the Netherlands. He moved to London three years ago to start work as a lecturer.He is currently recovering from his second bout of severe depression, which started about a year and a half ago.

It's been a busy period at Time to Change as we plan for a second phase of the programme. As many of you will know, we're currently funded by the Big Lottery Fund and Comic Relief until September 2011- but we have always had a longer-term vision.

I just had my first 'live' sighting of our Frank and Trisha tube posters on the District line. It's a busy media environment but I feel that visually they stand out. I'd be really interested to hear what you think of them and what kind of reaction you've seen on the tube and in cinemas as people have seen our advertising.

In 2003, Frank Bruno was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He believes events in his personal life contributed to the breakdown. “Build-up of pressure - marriage breaking up, someone you love dying - it's like having three radios on at the same time."

I have swine flu, AND whilst I'm more than happy to receive your messages of sympathy I'm wallowing in a vat of self pity the size of the Watford Gap which is hardly admirable, thus I hardly deserve your kind words. (grin)

“Why on earth do you bother? You don't even get paid.” This is something which has been said to me a lot this past year when I talk about my Activist role, and it has meant that I have actually sat back and considered my motivation, thought about what I think being an Activist can achieve, and equally importantly what it does for me.

Easter Monday's episode of Coronation Street saw a throwaway remark by the character 'Peter Barlow' spark some anger with viewers when he referred to matriarch 'Blanche Hunt' as being dressed as a "mental patient" when she'd unwittingly turned up a few weeks early for a murder mystery weekend dressed as Amelia Earhart.

With the report on “The World without the Fantastic Five" being published I wonder how events in history might have unravelled slightly differently given today's attitudes:

The scene is Buckingham Palace, 10th May 1940, King George VI has summoned Winston Churchill...

Just to let you know that there's a current consultation (ending March 1st 2009) on the Crown Prosecution Service's website, that wants your views.

Its about their Policy on prosecuting criminal cases involving people with mental health problems and/or learning disabilities as victims and witnesses

I've met with Jim and his colleagues again for another interesting chat about how to take things forward.

He gave me some information about lay visitors and I wonder if this is something more of us should get involved in? They're independent members of the local community who visit police stations unannounced to check on the welfare of people who are in police custody.

Here's a piece of information which might make one or two recoil in shock. For the most part you couldn't spot a depressive from any other member of society; you might need to get very close to someone before it became apparent.

There's a growing sense of excitement around the entire Time To Change Project. A genuine sense that we really could be seeing the beginnings of what could turn out to be one of the most revolutionary changes in the way in which mental health is perceived within our society! It's exciting, innovative, ambitious, and it's great to be involved with the project!

Q: What makes a mental health service user different from anyone else?

A: Nothing.

This is the issue I want to address in this blog.

In the 1990s during my A-Levels I developed ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome after three-weeks of type A or B influenza caused my immune system to collapse and never recover. I didn't get diagnosed for some years, so had to drop out of university, and suffered a “breakdown" more properly known as a major depressive episode.

"I'm Asian and I'm gay. I face discrimination every day, but not for the reasons you're thinking of."

You might think that Tom experiences stigma because of his race and sexuality. But it was after his brother's suicide, when he experienced stigma because of his mental health problems.

Tom says: "After my brother died, I was diagnosed with depression. My family has always been very supportive of each other and I was able to talk openly about my illness."

But at work, Tom's experience was quite the opposite.

At the recent Social Inclusion Network meeting, Constable Jim Scotson, the Hate Crime Officer for Merseyside Police based St. Helens, described the work of the Hate Crimes Unit, which is locally known as the ‘Sigma' unit. <--break->The title of Sigma was carefully chosen. Sigma is a letter from the Greek alphabet and symbolises the work of the unit in recognizing and protecting all vulnerable members of our society whilst seeking to continuously improve the service the police provide to victims.