These blogs are written by people with personal experiences of mental health problems at school, college or university. For instance, the blogs below include stories of teachers discriminated against by their employers and students who have opened up to friends and family about their illness.
It is incredibly important to tackle mental health stigma and discrimination at school, college and university: fear of negative reactions to their mental illness stops 32% of young people with a mental health problem applying for further education.
Simply talking mental health problem can help strengthen relationships, help recovery and challenge the stigmatising stereotypes that surround mental illness. By talking about mental health these bloggers aim to break down stereotypes and take the taboo out of something that can affect us all. Pledge to share your experience of mental health today >>
Depressed. Anxious. Borderline. These labels only added to the feeling that I was wrong, that I wasn’t like anyone else. I felt like no matter what I did this constant emptiness would follow me, a disease slowly eating me away from the inside. The worst part was that I couldn’t tell anyone. My childhood ensured that.
I've been struggling to different degrees over the last ten years and at the moment feel like I'm doing ok.
The last time I saw my diagnosis a couple of years ago at the age of 14; I had emerging borderline personality disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, recurring depressive disorder and high levels of anxiety. But the hardest thing for people to understand is the fact that I hear voices.
A while ago, a doctor in A&E told a very good friend of mine that her injury was 'a classic Borderline self-harm cut.' Later, a different doctor told my friend that her injury should never have been referred to like that and apologised profusely for the other Doctors words.