Take 5 To Blog – Support from Friends – 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 Family 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 friends were one of the groups included in their support network.

My name is …. and I have experienced….

Kate – My name is Kate and I have experienced depression and eating disorders.

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.

Louise – My name is Louise and I have lived with depression and anxiety on some level for 18 years.

Ali – My name is Ali and I have experienced borderline personality disorder of the emotionally unstable variety.

My mental illness has affected my ……

Rhiannon – It has affected every single area of my life, and made simple tasks sometimes impossible.

Amelia – My mental health has affected my life as it makes me sensitive and emotionally fragile: I overcome that by trying to live a life that isn’t too busy, noisy or stressful – I also focus on the simple things that make me happy – walking, pets, nature, wildlife, seaside, arts/crafts.

Debbie – My mental illness has affected all aspects of my life especially some relationships and my career.

My greatest source of support has been…

Joy – My greatest source of support has been my partner, friends, family and church.

Susanna – My greatest source of support has been my immediate family (my husband and daughter) – and my very strong friendships, those Teflon coated relationships that just don’t fall apart.

Rhian – My greatest sources of support have been total strangers, close friends, family members and health care professionals.

Shaun – My greatest source of support has been my friends who are always here for me, some of whom I can talk to about these problems.

Jo – My greatest hope for the future is to keep raising awareness and help others.

Elizabeth – My greatest source of support has been love from life long friends.

My hope for the future is that…

Roxanne – My hope for the future is that I can put the past to rest and not live in fear of being stigmatized.

Victoria – My hope for the future is that there is hope.

Madeleine K – My hope for the future is that I can help others who are experiencing or have experienced mental illnesses: I hope to increase conversation and awareness of mental health and fight the stigma – the brain is an organ that can become sick, just like the lungs or the heart!

Sophie – My hope for the future is that more people will realise that mental illness is real – I hope that people will open up more, talk about it and take time to learn about mental health.

Christine – My hope for the future is that I will no longer feel ashamed and responsible for being unwell, that it will be as acceptable to discuss the pain and distress of mental illness as it is physical.

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

Linda – I’m taking 5 on Time to Talk Day to share with others how mental illness changes your life, ask people to look at this as an unseen illness, which needs understanding, not judgment, support, not criticism, together we can beat the stigma which surrounds metal illness- we are not weak people, but strong often caring too much about others.

Fleur – I’m taking 5 on Time To Talk Day because mental health issues will affect 1 in 4 of us at some point in our lives, and so many people are unaware of how common these issues are, and that it really could happen to anyone.

Marie – I am taking 5 on Time to Talk Day because we should all reach out: you never know who may need to talk, who you can help by sharing your experience – it is ok to talk – there is nothing to be ashamed about.

Deborah – I will be taking 5 minutes to talk about mental health on 5th February to share my experience and show that I have no shame about what happened to me and to encourage others to do the same

Kate – I am taking 5 on Time to Talk Day because I wish for the stigma surrounding mental health to change drastically, for people to no longer fear mental health but feel able to talk, therefore expanding people’s knowledge and understanding of mental health and hoping to reduce the stigma and prejudice surrounding it!

Christine – I’m taking 5 on Time to Talk Day because life is hard enough without being so misunderstood – the whole issue of mental health needs to come out of the dark ages and be discussed as easily as physical health is.

Taylor – I am taking 5 to talk as my story is one of hope; even the darkest longest nights end eventually and I would like those still living in darkness to hear that from someone who has been there.