Take 5 To Blog – Support from Family – Health News International

As part of Time to Talk Day 2015 we asked Time to Change Facebook fans, Twitter followers, Champions and Bloggers to #Take5ToBlog. 24 of those blogs will be released over 24 hours on 5 February, in addition to ‘collective quotation blogs’ – Support from Friends and Support from Other Places and People, using a new Take 5 To Blog category.

This ‘collective quotation’ blog features quotations from people who stated that family were one of the groups included in their support network.

My name is …. and I have experienced….

Woody – I have depression, and I also have the condition Tourette’s syndrome.

Jo – My name is Jo and I suffer from anxiousness, depression & panic attacks.

Pauline – My name is Pauline and I have experienced generalized anxiety, social anxiety and depression most of my life.

Karen – My name is Karen and I have experienced depression.

Bethany – My name is Beth, and I have suffered from Borderline Personality Disorder from a young age.

Alison – My name is Alison and I have experienced mental health problems since I was a teenager, so about 34 years.

Vickee – My name is Vickee and I have experienced Borderline Personality Disorder with PTSD symptoms.

Lisa – My name is Lisa and I suffer with depression and anxiety.

Emma – My name is Emma and I suffer from Borderline Personality Disorder, anorexia nervosa, anxiety, depression, insomnia, panic attack syndrome, suicidal ideation and self harm.

Ces – I have lived with my old friend depression and anxiety for 30 years – wow, I didn’t know we’d been together this long.

My mental illness has affected my ……

Sarah – My mental illness has affected every single aspect of my life: I’m not the person I should be because of Borderline Personality Disorder, but I can’t be that person because my Borderline Personality Disorder won’t let me know myself.

Natasha – My mental illness has affected my self confidence my relationships, sometimes I don’t want to leave the house.

Kaitlin – My mental illness has limited my ability to maintain friendships, jobs and social activities.

My greatest source of support has been…

Georgia-Louise – My greatest sources of support are my loved ones, and the really supportive crisis team when I’m really struggling.

Ruan – My greatest source of support has been my husband, who in some ways has become my carer – he gently encourages me to leave the house and supports me in feeling confident enough to meet friends, even those that I have known for years.

Melle – My greatest source of support has been my children whom I love to pieces – if it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t even get out of bed or go to work.

Bekki – My greatest support has been my family.

Rebecca – My greatest sources of support are my nan, boyfriend, best friend (who also experiences depression) and my beautiful cat Bella.

Dorrie – My greatest source of support has been my partner Barrie, along with my friends and family and more importantly, my cats!

My hope for the future is that…

Lisa – My hope for the future is that mental illness is talked about openly and honestly and no one feels scared to seek help or feels less of a human being because of mental illness and it becomes less of invisible illness and everyone gets the help and support they need.

Katie – My hope for the future is that people will come to understand that obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is not ‘cool’ or ‘quirky’ – it’s not a joke which it is often portrayed to be.

I’m taking 5 on Time to Talk Day because….

Hayley – I’m taking 5 on Time to Talk Day because I want to help people, I want to share my story, I want to rid the world of this stigma…

Carol – I’m taking 5 on Time to Talk Day, because I believe there are many more parents like me, and many more children like mine who are faced with shame and stigma because of mental illness, and I want to show them that there is a ‘light at the end of the tunnel.’

Sarah – I’m taking 5 on Time to Talk Day because we all need help at some point in our lives, some physically and some mentally, so take 5 and stop, listen and learn.