Time for Change Campaign
On Wednesday I had to do a 5 minute talk for a course I'm doing. I had anxiety all night and couldn't sleep until 3am.
When signing up for the course I specified on the form under 'health conditions that may effect your learning' that I had depression and anxiety. However the tutor didn't pick up on the anxiety part and didn't approach me regarding this. I feel in hindsight that she should have kindly taken me to one side and asked if I was ok doing the talk. As a tutor I might have generally asked the group if anyone felt particularly anxious about their talk, and if so I might have done a short learning exercise on how to cope with anxiety (a common issue for people who aren't officially diagnosed as having an anxiety related condition). I did give the tutor feedback on this there and then via email! My tact was struggling but I tried hard! I am dreadful when I'm anxious (negative self-talk - Time to 'CBT').
At 2am in the morning I was panicking. So to pass the time I happened to visit the Time for Change website. For those that don't know Time for Change is a campaign in the UK to end stigma towards mental health. I was going to give a talk on apples (and everything associated, e.g. Isaac Newton, forbidden fruit, William Tell, Alan Turing, Snow White etc). I was also considering doing a talk on mindfulness because I want to teach this one day. Anyway on the Time for Change website there is a section where people can 'make a pledge'. This is not a monetary pledge but rather a commitment to DO something regarding ending stigma. One of which is to talk to others about ending stigma. EUREKA! I pledged to give a talk on ending stigma.
I thought if I have a panic attack during the talk then at least it's relevant to the subject matter! haha!
Anyway I made some very rough and sporadic notes on this topic. Sporadic because my mind was feeling like 8000 marbles in a tumble dryer.
After 3 hours sleep I got ready for my course. When I arrived the tutor took me to one side and was amazingly considerate and comforting. She calmed my nerves but she seemed edgy too, I guess some people panic when talking to someone about that person's mental health. Everyone on the class was due to give a 5 minute talk. A lot of people seemed anxious, quite normal I think. My tutor said that I didn't have to do it. I said to her that I'd just do my best and that was all I could do, this took the pressure off incredibly. i.e. I was going to allow myself to be human, oh such kindness I show to myself!
I got up to do my talk and I decided just to go for it. I looked at my notes. I introduced the topic and told everyone that I was involved in a campaign called Time for Change. I am so passionate about this topic that I don't think anyone could stand in my way in regards to having bigotry towards those with mental health. I really feel that I would metaphorically slay anyone with my knight's sword. I did the talk and people seemed very interested. At the end I asked people if they had any questions. After most people's talks there had been either zero questions OR one question that was answered in 30 seconds or so. People spent 15 minutes talking about mental health! It seems I only went and 'blew the bloody doors off'.
One persons said that their partner had suffered from social anxiety for many years. If they were going to a friend's house, e.g. for a party, they had to ring up first to mentally prepare themselves. They would then psych themselves up and go. However they were far too embarrassed to talk about their condition to anyone. They felt people would perceive them as weak or stupid. Another person said that they had suffered from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) at one stage. Afterwards I wondered if the person had gone home and spoken to their partner about someone who declared their mental health issues to group of people. Similar to gay rights, I believe that over time, the more people who 'come out' and declare their mental health conditions, the more others will feel inclined to follow suit.
I passed my talk, and the feedback was that I was very passionate and articulate and got the message across very well.
A friend suffering from bipolar said that he was proud of me for doing the talk. Especially considering that I was suicidal at the weekend, and by Wednesday I was giving a talk about mental health stigma. I really do feel like a street fighter at times or one of the fighters from Fight Club. I have had the mental equivalent of being beaten to a pulp tens of thousands of times, and been in a pool of blood on many an occasion only to get up and headbutt the attacker and win the fight. I will NOT be defeated.
I once had a conversation with a cage fighter instructor (he was quite hard). He overheard me talking to the receptionist at this cage fighting club (I only went for a few months... it seemed like a good idea at the time!), regarding emotions. He laughed and said feelings were for wusses. The problem is that he had picked a fight with the wrong man. I said to him, "OK, so which is worse, getting kicked in the balls or watching your mother get stabbed to death?". He said "Well I guess watching my mother get stabbed to death would be worse". I then said "So therefore that proves that emotional pain beats physical pain". In reality ALL pain is emotional, because without emotions physical pain would have no impact. But hey, this lazy intellectual short cut KO'ed him. He took it very well luckily for me, and he ran off as if he had just been punched in the stomach. Words and ideas are often more powerful than physical power.
I guess I've always been passionate at removing stigma. I wouldn't recommend the last strategy though. Maybe I should stick to the more tactful talks! I guess the older me has mellowed... maybe!
If you are reading this then try visiting the Time for Change website, and make a pledge (google it). Or start removing stigma in your own way.
Thanks you!
When signing up for the course I specified on the form under 'health conditions that may effect your learning' that I had depression and anxiety. However the tutor didn't pick up on the anxiety part and didn't approach me regarding this. I feel in hindsight that she should have kindly taken me to one side and asked if I was ok doing the talk. As a tutor I might have generally asked the group if anyone felt particularly anxious about their talk, and if so I might have done a short learning exercise on how to cope with anxiety (a common issue for people who aren't officially diagnosed as having an anxiety related condition). I did give the tutor feedback on this there and then via email! My tact was struggling but I tried hard! I am dreadful when I'm anxious (negative self-talk - Time to 'CBT').
At 2am in the morning I was panicking. So to pass the time I happened to visit the Time for Change website. For those that don't know Time for Change is a campaign in the UK to end stigma towards mental health. I was going to give a talk on apples (and everything associated, e.g. Isaac Newton, forbidden fruit, William Tell, Alan Turing, Snow White etc). I was also considering doing a talk on mindfulness because I want to teach this one day. Anyway on the Time for Change website there is a section where people can 'make a pledge'. This is not a monetary pledge but rather a commitment to DO something regarding ending stigma. One of which is to talk to others about ending stigma. EUREKA! I pledged to give a talk on ending stigma.
I thought if I have a panic attack during the talk then at least it's relevant to the subject matter! haha!
Anyway I made some very rough and sporadic notes on this topic. Sporadic because my mind was feeling like 8000 marbles in a tumble dryer.
After 3 hours sleep I got ready for my course. When I arrived the tutor took me to one side and was amazingly considerate and comforting. She calmed my nerves but she seemed edgy too, I guess some people panic when talking to someone about that person's mental health. Everyone on the class was due to give a 5 minute talk. A lot of people seemed anxious, quite normal I think. My tutor said that I didn't have to do it. I said to her that I'd just do my best and that was all I could do, this took the pressure off incredibly. i.e. I was going to allow myself to be human, oh such kindness I show to myself!
I got up to do my talk and I decided just to go for it. I looked at my notes. I introduced the topic and told everyone that I was involved in a campaign called Time for Change. I am so passionate about this topic that I don't think anyone could stand in my way in regards to having bigotry towards those with mental health. I really feel that I would metaphorically slay anyone with my knight's sword. I did the talk and people seemed very interested. At the end I asked people if they had any questions. After most people's talks there had been either zero questions OR one question that was answered in 30 seconds or so. People spent 15 minutes talking about mental health! It seems I only went and 'blew the bloody doors off'.
One persons said that their partner had suffered from social anxiety for many years. If they were going to a friend's house, e.g. for a party, they had to ring up first to mentally prepare themselves. They would then psych themselves up and go. However they were far too embarrassed to talk about their condition to anyone. They felt people would perceive them as weak or stupid. Another person said that they had suffered from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) at one stage. Afterwards I wondered if the person had gone home and spoken to their partner about someone who declared their mental health issues to group of people. Similar to gay rights, I believe that over time, the more people who 'come out' and declare their mental health conditions, the more others will feel inclined to follow suit.
I passed my talk, and the feedback was that I was very passionate and articulate and got the message across very well.
A friend suffering from bipolar said that he was proud of me for doing the talk. Especially considering that I was suicidal at the weekend, and by Wednesday I was giving a talk about mental health stigma. I really do feel like a street fighter at times or one of the fighters from Fight Club. I have had the mental equivalent of being beaten to a pulp tens of thousands of times, and been in a pool of blood on many an occasion only to get up and headbutt the attacker and win the fight. I will NOT be defeated.
I once had a conversation with a cage fighter instructor (he was quite hard). He overheard me talking to the receptionist at this cage fighting club (I only went for a few months... it seemed like a good idea at the time!), regarding emotions. He laughed and said feelings were for wusses. The problem is that he had picked a fight with the wrong man. I said to him, "OK, so which is worse, getting kicked in the balls or watching your mother get stabbed to death?". He said "Well I guess watching my mother get stabbed to death would be worse". I then said "So therefore that proves that emotional pain beats physical pain". In reality ALL pain is emotional, because without emotions physical pain would have no impact. But hey, this lazy intellectual short cut KO'ed him. He took it very well luckily for me, and he ran off as if he had just been punched in the stomach. Words and ideas are often more powerful than physical power.
I guess I've always been passionate at removing stigma. I wouldn't recommend the last strategy though. Maybe I should stick to the more tactful talks! I guess the older me has mellowed... maybe!
If you are reading this then try visiting the Time for Change website, and make a pledge (google it). Or start removing stigma in your own way.
Thanks you!
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