This week, some of our Time to Talk Champions are discussing their experiences of mental health and why they wanted to get involved in the project to help to tackle stigma and discrimination. Here is the third blog post in our series!
“What Experiences of Mental Health Problems Have You Had in the Past?”
I had a mental breakdown in 2008 due to being bullied in my workplace by the management. This snowballed and brought up many issues from my childhood. At the same time, my father-in-law was suffering from cancer and my niece had committed suicide. I hit rock bottom and was accessed as being clinically depressed.
Derby Women’s Centre was the first place I was sent on and I went on a confidence course. That was a major stepping stone and I later went to counselling and dramatherapy at Derby Women’s Centre, which helped me to recover and stop the pain inside me that was eating away at me.
The Derby Job Centre sent me on a course with Rethink and I later did a Wrap course with them. Both of these were also instrumental in helping me to rebuild my life.
You really do find out who your true friends are when you are unwell – the real friends stay with you.
“What Have Your Experiences of the Project Been Like?
I have really enjoyed the Champions’ training and found it very inspiring. It’s not so scary talking to people about mental health and I have had 2 conversations since the last event that I attended – one on a bus journey and one during a car journey.
We really need to talk about mental health to keep each other well so that people realise that they are not alone and that there is help out there to recover.