City Blog

May 12

[ARCHIVED] Mental Health Month: Do You Know What #MentalIllnessFeelsLike?

The original item was published from May 12, 2016 2:40 PM to May 12, 2016 2:47 PM

May is mental health month, a national initiative by Mental Health America to raise awareness of the importance of speaking up about mental health, and asking individuals to share what life with a mental illness feels like by tagging social media posts with #MentalIllnessFeelsLike.

 #MentalIllnessFeelsLike is an effort to understand what it feels like to live with a mental illness. It is an encouragement for residents to talk openly and honestly about mental illness. Sharing is the key to breaking down the stigma surrounding mental illnesses and to showing others they are not alone in their feelings and their symptoms.

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Posting with our hashtag is a way to speak up, to share your point of view with people who may be struggling to explain what they are going through—and to help others figure out if they too are showing signs of a mental illness. Mental illnesses are common and treatable, and help is available. But not everyone knows what to look for when they are going through those early stages, and many simply experience symptoms differently. We all need to speak up early and in real, relatable terms so that people do not feel isolated and alone.

Talking about what life with a mental illnesses feels like means giving voice to feelings and fears, and to hopes and dreams. It means empowering people as agents of their own recovery. And it means changing the trajectories of our own lives for the better, and helping those we love change theirs. Let’s talk about what life with a mental illness feels like, to voice what we are feeling, so others can know they are not alone.

Visit City Blog each week at www.fishers.in.us/Blog for guest posts on #MentalIllnessFeelsLike. Want to submit a blog post? We're looking for contributors throughout the month of May. To submit a post, email Tiffany Holbert

You can also share your story by using the hashtag #MentalIllnessFeelsLike on social media. Please tag our accounts so we can see and share your posts.

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