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COLUMN: Mental health awareness has never been more highly visible, rapidly eroding stigma in our society

May 4th to 10th is Mental Health Week through the Canadian Mental Health Association
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By Kevin J. Sabo

May 4th to 10th is Mental Health Week through the Canadian Mental Health Association.

It is a week to bring awareness to an issue that faces many Canadians; as many as one in five in any given year.

The Canadian Mental Health Association has run this week annually since 1951 and has been a major force in reducing stigma for mental health sufferers.

Between the Canadian Mental Health Week, and other awareness initiatives put on by the private sector over the course of a year, mental health awareness has never been more highly visible, rapidly eroding stigma in our society. It’s been a great start, however there is much more to do.

As someone who deals with a mental illness, I appreciate the fact that the increased awareness is in the community.

The one bit of messaging that seems to be forgotten, however, is that while these awareness initiatives are a day here or a week there, they are all seemingly lose sight of the fact that mental illness is 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Even once the annual initiative is over, the illness still remains with the sufferer.

Mentally speaking, I have been doing so much better than I used to. I have grown stronger over the last couple of years, yet despite all the progress I have made, I still have bad days. I still have days where I question my value as a person, to my wife, and society as a whole. I still have days where the lies my illness tells me seem like truths.

As a whole though, my bad days are happening less frequently. I’m moving into mental health recovery, a place even a couple years ago I never thought I would see. I still remain wary though, because I know where I’ve been, and how easy it is to fall back to that point.

The fact that mental illness never takes a break is the reason I write, to continue to be the voice long after the annual initiatives are over.