These blogs are written by people with personal experience of mental illness. They review and reflect on some of the ways mental health has been portrayed in the media, including TV episodes and newspaper articles.
The way mental illness is portrayed and reported in the media is incredibly powerful in educating and influencing the public. Our Media Advisory Service works with journalists, script writers and other media professionals to help ensure fictional and factual portrayals of people with mental health problems in the media are accurate and sensitive.
By writing about their own experiences and their reactions to these portrayals, these bloggers raise awareness of the different attitudes they have encountered to their mental health and how the media can help shape these attitudes. Pledge to help end mental health stigma today >>
Kevin Shepherd is a supporter of Time to Change, England’s biggest mental health anti-stigma programme run by the charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness.
Derek Muir
Lol Butterfield is a media volunteer for Time to Change. He has been working very closely with the soap Emmerdale to ensure that the storyline involving Zak Dingle developing mental health problems, has been accurate and sensitive.