I’m off to London tomorrow to attend a picnic being hosted by Mind, as part of Mind Week 2010 (15th – 22nd May). The picnic is called ‘Reclaim your lunch break‘ and is to launch their new mental health at work campaign, ‘taking care of business”.

“We’re encouraging all employees and employers nearby to come and join us to take care of business and ‘reclaim lunch hour’ at a picnic in the park at London’s business hub on the Southbank.

At the picnic we will launch our brand new short campaign film ‘Behind the Mask’, which focusses on mental wellbeing at work. We’ll also have talks by guest speakers and plenty of information and advice on employment and mental health.

Reclaim your lunch break, wherever you are!

You don’t have to work in central London to join in the launch of this year’s Mind week. Take a lunch break on Monday 17 May, 1.00-2.00pm, no matter where you are, in aid of Mind week 2010.

We want to reinforce the importance of taking a lunch hour where possible, to regain that all-important work/life balance. For much more information about employment and mental health, see our website: http://www.mind.org.uk/work“

Mind is a mental health charity who “campaign vigorously to create a society that promotes and protects good mental health for all – a society where people with experience of mental distress are treated fairly, positively and with respect.”

The topic of mental health & depression is a very important & personal one to me, as I struggled with depression for a number of years, and still have issues with stress affecting my wellbeing now. I have, in the past, experienced problems at my various workplaces due to my condition, and I almost flunked out of university in my final year because my depression got so bad. Thankfully a friend of mine helped me to realised I needed help, and would have marched me to the doctor herself if she hadn’t been halfway across the country. As it was, I made a promise to go & ask for help, and I did.

I think that friend definitely saved my degree, and possibly even saved my life, as I was getting worse rapidly – I stopped eating for a few days at a time, and wasn’t sleeping much or leaving my room often. The hardest part of depression, for me, was to face up to it and admit to myself that I was having serious problems with my mental health. Asking for help is a hard thing to do, and I still struggle with that today. It made me afraid of talking to people; of letting them know that I was having problems – and experiencing discrimination at work and from fiends is a really tough thing to deal with.

A close friend of mine, Carly, has also had problems with her mental health and has been doing a brilliant thing and sharing those experiences with the media this week, and will be again at the picnic tomorrow. If you want to hear more about her story, you can catch her interviews at the following places tomorrow:

• The Times
• The Daily Mail
• The Morning & Lunchtime bulletins of BBC News (national)
• Radio 4 between 12 &1

Tags: mental health

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