World Mental Health Day

I'm taking a break from my very busy day (stressing too much isn't going to get anything done!) to ask of you, my readers, how ever many of you are out there, a very small favour. It's only small. A small step to create the world that I hope we'll all be living in the years to come.


Being World Mental Health Week, the Irish Times newspaper published a series of articles pertaining to different aspects of mental health. My mother and I were delighted to share our story with freelance journalist, Sheila Wayward, and how family support is imperative to recovery. I believe that putting a face to the voices who speak out about this kind of thing is very important-who am I to inform people of mental health issues if I am not willing to stand by what I say.

The article is available at the link here.

The response has been immense and I want to thank everyone who sent kind wishes and support. I really believe that people are wonderful.

Here are statistics of my own that I hope will convince you to fulfil my small request for me:

• 134 Facebook likes, 8 comments and 3 shares on my shared photo of article
• 3 retweets and 2 favourites on Twitter
• 196 Facebook recommendations and 16 Tweets on Irish Times online article
• 47 likes and 26 shares on Aware's Facebook page
• 286 page views of my blog
• 20 personal messages
• All Irish Times newspapers were gone in DCU's Spar by Tuesday evening (not quite a statistic but I'm getting to my explanation now!)

Is there the slightest chance that with all this interaction that this has not helped at least one person in the fight against depression? I do not desire the attention or the praise for having done what I did-I want to create a community that speaks openly about mental health issues-because I warn you, I'm not going anywhere and neither are the 1 in 4 of us (perhaps more!) who suffer with a mental health disorder. I want it to become so that we won't look on it as brave or remarkable that people are talking openly about their experiences-I want to make it so commonplace that we don't even notice the taboo any more.

So the favour I ask of you is this-if you can do one thing to help our campaign, even a tiny bit, then  urge you to try. Share a positive mental health story on your Facebook page. Engage your friends in conversation about maintaining a positive outlook on life. Open your mind to the possibility that people's actions aren't coming from a bitter place but a rough patch they're going through. Be patient with family and friends in their recovery. Pick up a book and educate yourself on the symptoms, forms and medications. Refrain from judging people by what breakdown or fragile state they were once in. And for those having suffered or still suffering with depression or mental illness; share your story. My story is no more remarkable than yours-it was never my intention to sensationalise. I want to normalise and with enough stories we can help each other through this. 

I am open to helping my friends or family or even those of you whom I don't know, with this endeavour. I can publish your story here if you lack the ability to articulate it yourself. What were your symptoms? What were your fears? What was your saviour? How do you cope now? I just want everyone included in this journey to a less stigmatised, less scary and more understanding fight against this disease.

Jill x