Carving Something Beautiful From Rock Bottom

Over the past year and a half, I’ve been talking about things we can all do to instigate change in the realm of mental health stigma. One unifying theme that I keep mentioning is the need for people to come out of the metaphorical closet and share their stories. But it isn’t always that easy.

I chose the rather unorthodox method of writing and publishing my memoir. But that’s a little extreme. We don’t all have to write books in order to combat mental health stigma.

But what we can all do is share our mental health stories of rock bottom and overcoming adversity through this wonderful new website called www.DisasterPiece.me. This brand new site is a ‘collection of stories from real people who have survived (or are otherwise trying to survive) rock bottom.’

It Does Get Better

Creator Cory McCoy describes his initiative as ‘a website dedicated to the collection of stories of lives once (or that are presently) debilitated by depression, addiction and other afflictions. We hope to use this website as a platform for the once damaged and dysfunctional to reach out and touch the hearts of people going through similar situations, hopefully inspiring change.’

As far as fighting stigma goes, Mr. McCoy is exactly on track. Stigma thrives on misinformation and myths. The more people share their stories and normalize mental illness, the closer we will be to a stigma free society.

Stand Up and Speak Out Against Stigma

Unfortunately, some people view those with mental health challenges as different or as lesser than. With this site, that includes pictures of the contributors as well as their story, people can see that they look just like everyone else. You cannot tell that someone is suffering just from looking at them. Someone with schizophrenia doesn’t look any different than someone with cancer. Or someone with depression doesn’t look any different than someone with diabetes. We’re all the same and we all have a story.

I urge every single person reading this to think long and hard about what they have done to help bring mental health out of the shadows. If you have never shared your story, now is the time.

Please check out the following video that details the submission process for this incredible endeavour in combating mental health stigma.

Chris Curry's website is here. Chris is also on Google+, Twitter and Facebook.