As part of Mental Health Awareness Week, our very own Comms Officer, Liam Harris, has published an article about Mental Health on medium.com. Below is a short excerpt.
Mental Health. It is something we all have, no matter who we are. To some, it may be a blooming rose, gleaming at the sight of an exuberant life, when to others it might be the thorn in their side, creating a trap that they wish to escape. As we all have our physical well-being and health, there is the mental side. No matter who we are, we all have mental health.
It can sometimes be seen as a taboo subject, to talk about how you’re doing mentally, such as though it is a part of yourself you are expected to keep under lock and key, making sure the mask of happiness you portray to those around you never cracks or fades away. But in a society that is learning and developing in ways that tries to encompass everyone, no matter who they are, it is important to address mental health, and stigmas that might surround discussing mental health issues, so we can all thrive and become a happier version of ourselves.
I, myself, have had issues with mental health, and I am extremely grateful that I have the confidence to talk about how I feel, but an issue presents itself when those who do have mental health issues don’t feel like they have the capacity to speak up, and get the help they need and deserve. My confidence came from the help from compassionate, caring, admirable people I surrounded myself with, who I knew I could trust, and who taught me to be in touch with my emotions. It can still be seen as a perplexed thought, a man being in touch with their emotions, due to the grass-root stereotypes that are embedded into society, a man having to be ‘macho’ and ‘never fearful’, stereotypes I can hand on heart express I do not reflect. However, I feel sorrow for those who feel trapped inside the stereotype cages, cages that never open up for their emotions to be expressed, cages that never give them a pathway to express their bottled up feelings that might soon crack the bottle due to the amount of pressure.
To read the rest of Liam’s article go to https://medium.com/@liamjosephharris/mental-health-and-i-4959b80dd781
