Redefine Mental Health - How You Can Help

“It’s so common, it could be anyone. The trouble is nobody wants to talk about it. And that makes everything worse.” – Ruby Wax.

So let’s talk about it. Let’s end the stigma.

I’m working on a project with my wonderful friend Cojo and we need YOUR help! If you struggle with any type of mental illness such as anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, OCD, etc. we want to hear from you.

We want to turn your story into a photo.

We’re hoping the power of photography will help make an impact towards normalizing the stigma that comes with mental health. Why? Well, both of us battle with our mental health. Personally, what helped me through my most challenging moments was discovering other people who were experiencing the same struggles as me. I would read stories online or hear from some of my friends and think, “Wow, me too.” This is one reason why I started this blog.

I want others to have their “Me too” moment.

If you struggle with your mental health in any way and would like to participate in this project, submit a short description of what mental illness feels like to you through this Google form. You can create symbol for anxiety, describe the feelings in metaphors, personify your experience, anything! Be as descriptive and creative as you’d like.

Here are our examples:

“My anxiety feels like a shadow, constantly in the back of my mind, waiting to pull me back inside to the chaos and disarray of panic.” – Sara

“I would describe my depression as a small fox that kind of follows me around telling me negative things about myself and causing a lot of doubt. He’s just constantly there. It comes from The Little Prince when he takes the fox, the quote from the book is, ‘But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world….’ Basically, my depression is my personal depression that is unique to me as I am unique to it.” – Cojo

Your submission could be featured in our photo series to help others understand the truth behind mental health on a visual level. If you would like to remain anonymous, that is completely okay. We respect your privacy. If for some reason we do not feature your submission as a photo, please do not take it personally. I would love to feature your description in separate projects to help continuously speak out against the mental health stigma, and help others feel less alone.