why I​ speak out about mental health (mh awareness week 2/7)

This week is The Mental Health Foundation’s “Mental Health Awareness Week” 2019 (13-19th May). In honour of this, I will be posting a blog post each day this week with the theme of mental health. This is a bit on why I started talking so much about mental health.

I have struggled with mental health issues for so many years. I have always kept them really private until January 2019.

I was put on sertraline in September 2018 after returning from Orlando, my favourite place in the world and realising I was really struggling because I was even feeling really depressed in Disney World. It took a while for the medication to start working and after a while, I started feeling more motivated in life in all aspects of it. Of course, I still have bad days, but before I was put on medication they were a lot more frequent than they are now and I feel that I’m working harder in all aspects of life because of the increase in motivation.

So to remind myself to keep going and to stay motivated I got myself a semi-colon tattoo on the 15th of January. After I booked it I started writing a post about my experience (my first blog post entitled “opening up about mental health”) and I posted it on facebook with my tattoo picture. This was when everyone found out how good I had been at hiding my struggles the years that they had known me. I hit post and had to put my phone away for a good half an hour because I was so scared about the response. 

However, I didn’t have to be scared because it was actually the best thing I’ve ever done. I had messages from people I hadn’t spoken to in years, as well as people I spoke to regularly telling me they were proud of me and I had inspired them etc. All this positive feedback was great for my self-esteem, I felt like posting my story had genuinely made some people feel better and after all, that is all I want to do. 

Speaking out encourages others to do the same, and the more that speak out, the less of a stigma around mental health issues there is. I think the stigma is the biggest reason for people not speaking out, which is why I’m passionate about doing whatever I can to stop the stigma. 

I feel like the main reason that I kept my mental health issues so private was because I feared the judgement of others, so if I can do anything to stop anyone else feeling like that, then I will. I feel that we should all be able to talk about our experiences with mental health issues without fear of judgement or stigma, they are such a big part of our lives so it’s really important that we can talk freely about them. We all have mental health just as we all have physical health. If we can talk about having conditions such as asthma, we should be able to talk about having conditions such as depression. If we can talk about taking medication for a heart condition, we should be able to talk about taking medication for a mental health issue.

The sad reality is that knowing that you can talk to someone about what’s going on in your life or in your head can be the difference between life and death, so it’s important to let people know that they can speak out if they’re comfortable enough to do so.

I did some research on mental health charities looking for ways to be involved and help more people outside of my own circle.

I then started blogging on young minds, a charity which publish people’s stories and monthly blog topics. It’s a great resource if you’re struggling with something in particular and you want to read about it from the perspective of people who have their own experiences of mental health issues.

I came across See Me Scotland who had the “walk a mile” events. I will be hosting my own walk a mile event in Aberdeen on May 26th (see my Walk a mile page on my site for details). This is an entirely free event which relieves the financial pressure which some charitable events can bring to organisers and attendees. The event’s sole purpose is to end mental health discrimination and show a sign of unity. 

Event link: https://www.facebook.com/events/843840935996349/

I also decided I wanted to raise money for ACIS youth but was unsure what to do in terms of fundraising. I then had the idea for a marathon in a month which I’d seen many charities advertising as a fundraising idea. This was perfect for me since due to my back problems I struggle with strenuous exercise and I’m sadly not allowed skydive, so this allows me to spread 26.2 miles across an entire month, which will still be a challenge but will be more achievable. Also, there is extensive research about exercising in natural environments boosting your mood so it hopefully will have that added benefit. 

Fundraiser link: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/caitlin-tawse-mha-acis

Can also see my “My marathon in a month” for more on this.

I hope that I can make a difference in any way that I can.