Stamp out Stigma

"Bonkers Bruno locked up" declared The Sun in 2003, when the ex-boxer was taken to a psychiatric hospital. In a recent stream of nonsense in the Daily Mail Janet Street Porter mocked depression as nothing more than the latest celebrity fashion.

It is because of such contemptuous attitudes to mental health, that a campaign like Stamp out Stigma is still necessary in the 21st century. Mental illness is one of the last great taboos.

THE CAMPAIGN

Stamp out Stigma was launched this April. Led by the 5 Boroughs Partnership NHS Foundation Trust in Halton, Knowsley, St Helens, Warrington and Wigan, the campaign aims to change perceptions about mental illness and promote understanding. Stamp out Stigma is calling for an end to discrimination. It wants people to pledge not to use one of the many dismissive epithets the English language affords the bigot to abuse people suffering from mental health problems.

GET INVOLVED

Log on to the website and make your pledge. The campaign hopes to collect 100,000 pledges over the next twelve months. You can also become a partner or a supporter of the campaign. The more the merrier. A campaign like this offers an excellent way of shutting up the Janet Street Porters of this world. Mental illness exists Janet, whatever cheap and easy mileage you'd like to get from saying it's just a fad for the famous. Mental illness exists, whether you're a Hollywood actress or a toilet cleaner.

20 May 2010