Founded by a well-known actress, a group is helping to break down barriers around mental health stigma.If you’re one of the 1 in 4 people who experience a mental health condition, then you probably know how difficult talking about mental illness can be. From stereotypes to stigma, there are a lot of things that people don’t understand about the reality of living with a mental disorder.
Bring Change to Mind, a mental health non-profit dedicated to education and empathy, was co-founded by actress Glenn Close after her sister was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and her nephew with schizoaffective disorder, a mental illness in which one experiences symptoms of both schizophrenia and a mood disorder. Bring Change to Mind offers programs for high school and college students to raise awareness on their campuses, as well as publishing blogs written by people who live with mental illness.
Read more:
Give thanks for my mental illness? You can’t be serious
Most recently, they released a new “Talk Tool,” an online tool that allows the user to select a mental health diagnosis and a person they would like to talk to (e.g. parent, friend, etc.). Then, it produces an example of a way you might explain the diagnosis to someone who has no experience with it.
You can see the short demo below.
Though creating a dialogue around our mental health can be difficult, these small tips and tools can make all the difference to someone who feels alone in this struggle. Mental illnesses are common and widespread, not discriminating by race, age, or gender, and that means that everyone needs to be involved in this conversation if we are, indeed, going to “bring change to mind.”
