Every year we have mental health days, mental health months, world mental health days & programs to raise awareness. Yet, The stigma is still there. The fear for those who suffer from mental illness is still very, very real.
The truth is while the sufferer gains the courage to speak out, the rest of the world needs to shut up and take action! It’s not enough that the government or corporations say they will make changes but never implement them. It’s great that they have a budget for mental health initiatives and then ridicules their employees for using them. It’s really cool that they do their “marketing part” spending thousands & thousands of dollars to come up with truly bone-chilling ads and television commercials to gain some interest from the public around mental health and still run their offices into the ground with impossible deadlines and little (if any) work/life balance options.
Like it or not, the percentage of people, employers, governing bodies (and yes, dare I say family members) love to “talk the shit out of the talk” but NEVER walk the walk. Even now in our world today, there are so many doctors and nurses who are either too afraid or too embarrassed to say that they are struggling badly with mental health issues, during their million-hour shifts on the front lines, dealing with COVID-19.
There are MANY essential service workers that are experiencing overwhelming situations of anxiety, depression, and suicidal tendencies but are too afraid to speak up - due to stigmas.
Yes, the world needs you now more than ever but at what cost to yourselves?
My God even heroes need to be rescued every once in a while.
We want to live in a world where the action will be taken to save lives in every way, all of the time. Not just when Bell Let’s Talk days come around. Not just when pandemics threaten our world. Continual change needs to happen, with understanding and kindness leading the march. Otherwise, nothing will change and we will die from a lot more than just a virus.
