Mental Health Awareness Week is upon us again, and with it comes the all-too-constant reminder that there are people out there struggling every day to find a way to reach out for help.
Because no one wants to be "mentally unwell".
For a very long time, it carried a sort of negative stigma and was somewhat trivialised. "Oh Sharon down the road had a nervous breakdown," people would throw out, "pop her in the loony bin."
Imagine being someone going through your own struggle in those times, or maybe you don't have to Imagine and it's something you did go through. In which case I'd like to say well done, you've made it through to now, you're still here with us, and you're stronger than you may think!
Because it still takes an element of bravery to take the steps to say, "I'm not okay to deal with this alone. I need some outside help" and not only bravery, but perhaps a huge amount of the limited energy you may have at your fingertips when things are a little, or a lot, rough.
