If you could say anything about mental health and the language around it, what would you say?
…that’s what OTR’s youth campaigning group, Mentality, are asking.
Mentality are looking for support to create social media content to support their newest campaign!
Laura, who co-ordinates Mentality, explains more:
Here at Mentality, we are creating a new mental health campaign focusing on the language we use around mental health. We are not asking people to stop using certain words; just to think about the effect of these words on others. The campaign goal is to encourage people to discuss mental health in the aim to break down stigma!
For example, how many times have you heard people say “I feel a little OCD today…”?
We want to get people to discuss how these types of statements fuel stigma around mental ill health. Our latest campaign is called My Mental Health is Not an Adjective! Here is a preview video from our upcoming campaign:
Part of this campaign is to create a lively social media conversation about this subject matter, using platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and Tumblr.
This is where we need your help!
We want to collect your stories, thoughts and ideas on this subject, collecting a bank of blogs that we can start showcasing once our campaign is launched on the 10th October (World Mental Health Day).
These blogs can come in written, spoken or video form. They do not need to be huge; they can be a paragraph or two (as a guideline, no more than 1,000 words/no longer than a one minute video). It could be a written blog, a poem or a collection of photos – be as creative as you like! You don’t have to put your name to it, however it would be good to have a name and a picture with your blog.
Choose something you are passionate talking about! An example could be your personal experience of what people have said to you about your mental illness; it could be what you’d want to read in a ‘get well card’ if you are admitted to hospital for a mental illness; it could be the use of references of mental illness as everyday language.
Can you please help our quest to collect as many blogs as possible, in the aim to fight stigma and encourage people to speak more freely about mental health?
To ask more questions or to submit your blog, please contact Laura Brain at the Mentality Project – laura@otrbristol.org.uk
Deadline 5th September.