Photo of Linda Boyes of Love Arts Leeds Festival
Guest blog by Victoria Betton
So the new strap line of the Time to Change campaign is ‘It’s time to talk’ but how do we talk about mental health? What if we say something wrong? What are the right words to use? And what if we upset someone or look foolish?
I’ve been having some fascinating conversations with all sorts of different people since we began to organise our Love Arts Festival and these are the sorts of questions that people have asked me. It’s been a real eye opener and got me thinking about how we can overcome the fears and worries we often have that prevent us talking about mental health.
So the first thing to say is that mental health problems are much more common than you might think. One in four British adults experience a mental health problem in any one year*. That means that most of us either has our own personal experience or know someone who does.
But despite how many of us are affected, stigma and discrimination is very real and we know it has damaging effects. Time to Change have found that many people find discrimination a bigger burden than the experience of mental ill-health itself. Prejudice is based on fear of what we don’t understand so avoiding talking about mental health is likely to increase it.
And just in case you don’t think stigma is a big issue, the Stigma Shout research undertaken by Time to Change in 2008 found that nearly nine out of ten people with mental health problems reported the negative impact of stigma and discrimination on their lives.
But there’s some good news. Since the start of the campaign in 2009 there has been a small improvement in public attitudes towards mental health problems and a reduction in discrimination. Let’s hope this is trend continues and we can make even more of a difference in Leeds.
So what are the small things we can do to make that big difference? Well, having a conversation is the first step. Listen and talk. Avoid defining people by their mental health problem alone. Think about the words you use – words like ‘nutter’ and ‘psycho’ are often used in day-to-day conversation and in the media – they can hurt. But don’t get so concerned about saying the wrong thing that you avoid talking about mental health altogether – being open is better for all of us.
So back to the new ‘time to talk’ campaign strap line. Through our Love Arts Festival we want to help people get confident about talking about mental health. What better way than through the arts, where we can explore our ideas and emotional responses through so many different and varied forms. I’m looking forward to lots of new, interesting and no doubt challenging conversations at our festival.