In my headFiona Kennedy, Sunny Spells and Scattered Showers

Background

● About me

● Depression

● Sunny Spells and Scattered Showers

● Borderline personality disorder (Bitchface)

Stigma

‘…..a cluster of negative attitudes and beliefs that motivate the general public to fear, reject, avoidand discriminate against people with mental ill

health’(Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), 2004)

Self imposed stigma

● Ashamed

● Embarrassed

Bitchface/BPD

● Not a real illness

BPD & unhelpful thinking styles I

● Mental filter

● Emotional reasoning

● Personalisation

● Jumping to conclusions

● Bottom line? Never, ever good enough

BPD & unhelpful thinking styles II

All feed into self imposed stigma● people looking at me - filters● talking about me - conclusions● everyone knows everything - catastrophising● don’t want to accept allowances being made for

me, eg work, with friends, but at times they’re necessary

Reality?

Everyone has something!!

Language

● Does the language we use to talk about mental illness perpetuate stigma? - eg, I suffer from depression/bpd etc

● Do we suffer from diabetes? Asthma?● In using different language for mental illness, are

we setting it apart from physical illness, more than necessary??

Breaking down barriers

● slow, frustrating

● becomes a talking point for a few days eg GAA

players, Robin Williams, but then silence again

● Messy - far easier to promote awareness of

something visible and tangible

● People fear what they don’t understand

See Change

● Ambassador● Green ribbon campaign: May 2014*

o over 500 events and iniativeso 300,000 green ribbons distributedo over 1 million conversations startedo 66% state encouraged to start a conversationo 62% hearing conversations among family & friendso 53% hearing conversations on the workplace

*See Change Green Ribbon Impact Report 2014

Community Change

Locally organised eventsStamp out Stigma Mayfly 10k NUI Galway

Other Initiatives

● Cycle against suicideo raise awarenesso offer reassurance - ok to ask for helpo direct towards help

● Pieta House Darkness into Lighto fundraisingo awareness

● Turn2me.org, Aware, let’s not forget Grow!

Sunny spells and scattered showers

Sunny Spells and Scattered Showers

● Blog: impact on family and friendso awareness

o freedom to talk (if feel able)

● One conversation leads to another - people are

more open

● Caveat: the neat ‘start-middle-end’ story

● A work in progress, sometimes messy, but me!

Fiona Kennedy

Sunny Spells and Scattered Showers

http://tinyurl.com/sunnyscattered

sunnyscattered@gmail.com