is a subject very close to my heart and i was fortunate enough to have been invited to a 'mental health in the workplace' meeting which was hosted by my company today...
the subject of mental health, and indeed at the other end of the spectrum, mental illness is one which has often caused me to wish that the world in which we live (or perhaps just the people who inhabit the world) was different...
and by different i mean open, accepting, caring, appreciative of diversity and just a wee bit more humane...
the stats that were presented at this session were astounding (and sadly, not surprising) - in particular what stands out to me as an enormous opportunity (not just for humanity, but for the social fabric of the world we live in) is how much easier life would be for people living with a mental illness if we could raise awareness and improve the support available to these people, who mostly suffer in silence and isolation...
the most frightening statistic was the one where of people surveyed (across a number of big organisations) only 9% of people with a mental illness (be that depression, schizophrenia, anxiety disorder etc) are comfortable talking about it with a colleague...
and the reasons for that are pretty self evident i would think: questions about the ability of the person to do their job properly, concern around how to 'talk to' people like that, at the extreme end discrimination when applying for roles with more responsibility...sad sad sad
seriously what is the difference between someone who is suffering from depression (but medicated) and someone with asthma? probably not much - both will occasionally need time off work to recover from a bout of their illness, and yet depression is not a topic of conversation in the same way that a physical illness is...
i long for a world where the people who most need our help are free to ask for it and actually get it...
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