This is definitely nothing like my usual post but it's something that has a ridiculous amount of importance to me. As I've written about before, I suffer from severe depression as well as anxiety and this petition is to introduce the education of Mental Health onto the National Curriculum for schools here in England. Unfortunately only UK residents can sign the petition, but the majority of my viewers are British, so I'm relying on you all to help me make a change.
The Petitions site summarises the aim; "Introducing mental heath education in schools will reduce the stigma of mental illness in society, help children deal with the modern pressures they face and will provide them with the advice they need to seek help rather than suffer in silence like I and many others have." Obviously this is a very brief overview but for me and many others suffering on a daily basis with their mental illness, this could be a monumental step towards eradicating ignorance surrounding mental health.
One of the hardest things for me personally is that I'm constantly getting angry and upset that I keep having to explain the pain I'm going through or after having explained it being treated differently. No, unless you've had it you won't know the torture but at least if we're educating the younger generations, young adults and teenagers will be aware that these illnesses and conditions do exist, they are treatable and they're definitely not something to be ashamed of. I didn't even know I was depressed until I had suffered about 3 years of excluding myself from social situations, comfort eating and generally not going out. I had no idea I was clinically depressed, I thought my behaviour was normal or that it was simply a phase.
Until my doctor actually said to me 'There's no doubt you have depression", I didn't even know what depression was. I had not come across Depression as an illness in 16 years of private school education and I think that this is pretty damn shameful. We are taught about cancer and all the other deadly illnesses but somehow schools are failing to teach us about an equally dangerous illness that affects 1 in 4 of us. Of course it's not just depression there are so many forms of mental illnesses; ADHD, Autism, Bipolar Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, Eating Disorders, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder...just to name a few. Everyone knows someone that is going through hell just to get through their day living with one of the above illnesses and the bottom line is: it's not fair.
We can't cure our friends and family from these suffocating conditions but we can do something to lighten the load and believe me if more people knew how to talk to/behave/help someone with a mental illness the world would already be a better place. All I'm asking is that you take about 25 seconds out of your day to sign this petition. We currently need about another 50,000 signatures before next Friday so this can even be considered in parliament. It's something that if is put into place will change lives.
Sign here to make a change
Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this and/or sign the petition, you can read my depression story if you're interested,
much love
Ev <3
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