Tag Archives: stigma

World Mental Health Day: I battled depression for six years, I didn’t just ‘get over it’ overnight

October 10, 2012   Carers

We need to look at how far we’ve come in removing the stigma surrounding depression, and see how we can act to do more.

It’s the 20th anniversary of World Mental Health Day today. Twenty years of awareness-raising about mental illness and yet, when talking to a friend’s father about writing this blog I dropped the ‘d’ word, his response was to roll his eyes heavenward and exclaim “oh I don’t believe in all that, you’re either happy or a bit pissed off”.

Anecdotal evidence I realise, but I wondered nevertheless whether this attitude was an isolated one, perhaps the result of belonging to a generation whose answer to curing ‘the blues’ is giving yourself a stern talking to. Unfortunately not.

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Big Lottery Fund gives £13m to 55 mental health charities

August 14, 2012   Carers, mental health, stigma

The money will help address the stigma that surrounds mental health and support people with their treatment, according to Nat Sloane, chair of Big Lottery Fund England

By David Ainsworth, Third Sector Online, 14 August 2012

Nat Sloane

The Big Lottery Fund has awarded £13m through its Reaching Communities programme to 55 charities in England to support people with mental health issues, along with their carers and families.

Awards ranged from just under £500,000 to the Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Outreach Team for a domestic violence advice service, down to about £38,000 to Action for Achievement for a community arts programme in Liverpool.

The £130m Reaching Communities programme offers grants of between £10,000 and £500,000 to organisations in England that help to build stronger communities and help people in need.

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Mental health stigma is the hardest to overcome says Paul Burstow MP

October 19, 2011   Carers, mental health, stigma

Paul Burstow MP writes: Mental health – changing attitudes, tackling stigma

At our party conference in Birmingham, I was asked the question; “what issues can we campaign on at the next general election?” Given that this was during the health Bill Q&A session, I imagine most people in the audience expected me to focus on NHS reform. Instead I talked about mental health, and in particular our party’s long standing campaign for parity of esteem between mental and physical health. There are many obstacles to overcome but we are making progress through our Strategy No Health without Mental Health and our plans to provide £400million for talking therapies.

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