Stamp it out

By LaRae LaBouff – @LaRaeRLaBouff One of the best ways to manage treatment for bipolar disorder is symptom awareness. Basically, if you know you are experiencing symptoms, you’re better able and more likely to seek treatment. It makes sense.

The Eaton Foundation is a Fantastic project and one that we at The Collins Foundation Aspire to. For me and many others this is ground breaking stuff and what a shame the Government did’t recognise the problem of Men’s mental health sooner, Much sooner! Here’s what they do for their Community, taken from their website www.

The experience of anxiety often involves interconnected symptoms and disorders. It is estimated that one in four people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year, while one in six experience a neurotic disorder such as anxiety or depression. Anxiety disorders are also estimated to affect 3.3% of children and young adults in the UK.

Lindsay Holmes Healthy Living Editor, The Huffington Post For some, the winter is hardly “the most wonderful time of the year.” Seasonal affective disorder is a condition that affects nearly 10 million American adults and can make a few months out of the year feel downright unbearable. It’s common to feel bouts of the winter blues, but those with seasonal depression may experience symptoms and low moods that sometimes make everyday tasks feel impossible.

Norman Lamb – Via The Guardian When our oldest son, Archie, was 16, he was clearly very unhappy. He eventually told us just how distressed and troubled he had become. We got a referral to our local children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) and a diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive disorder followed.

Ballers star and charismatic charm machine Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson recently opened up on the OWN Network’s Oprah’s Master Class about his struggle with depression, and how his personal experience with the condition helped him find his career path. Johnson struggled with the disorder after being cut from his football team and while living in his parents’ basement in what he describes as a “real low point” in his life. “I found that, with depression, one of the most important things you could realize is that you’re not alone,” Johnson said.

On July 22nd 2015, I was on the Victoria Derbyshire show on the BBC with three other people, talking about our experiences of dealing with suicide and suicidal thoughts. The show was aired after recent figures have shown there has been an increase in the number of men taking their own life, even when they are in the care of Mental Health services.

A focus on mental health is not going to solve the symptom of male suicide. If we don’t change the way we think things will only get worse. When we look at male mental health we assume that the issues are exclusively internal, however look at the way men can be treated in society as a whole.

Please talk to someone if you’re feeling suicidal. There’s someone waiting there right now to listen to you. Please check our support section.

A video explaining mental illness, how to approach it, who has it, it’s prevalence, and so forth in hopes of stomping out the stigma surrounding it.