This morning Andrew Johns completed his walk from Newcastle to Sydney to raise funds for the Black Dog Institute research and awareness of bipolar and depression.

Raised $2 million

Even though it was a magnificent effort to raise these funds I think Andrew’s greatest contribution was to talk openly about his own experiences. I know from the feedback I have had from BACK FROM THE BRINK, that personal stories help bring down the bricks of stigma. I remember doing  a book signing in Perth where every third person commented that they felt comfortable discussing their depression with family after Geoff Gallop, the ex Premier of WA, admitted to his own struggles with the illness when resigning from parliament.

Real stories move hearts

It may seem like a courageous thing to do but I have been amazed how supportive people have been when discussing my own illness. Inevitably it leads to the person then feeling comfortable discussing their own story of a loved one (or even themselves) - and I now know that everyone has a story.

I encourage you to share your story with family and friends so that we can discuss mental illness as easily as we do physical illnesses. I encourage you to read the story on this topic from the Mayo Clinic in the news section of www.IamBackFromTheBrink.com

Kind Regards

Graeme

Tags: andrew johns, bipolar, depression, mental illness, stigma

Over the last few days I have been going through the final editing stage for “Back From The Brink Too: 7 steps in helping your loved one in overcoming depression”. It gets quite tiring going through the same material time and again but I am very excited about the material that this will make available. The need for this material was brought home to me recently in the most dramatic way. I woman emailed me who heard I was writing the sequel to BFTB. She had heard John Brogden and I on Radio National on the day of the launch for the first book- June 13 2007. A friend had called to let her know it was on as she had a daughter who was suffering badly from depression. On that same day her beautiful daughter took her own life and totally devasted her. She was so frustrated at how difficult it was to navigate the mental health system as a carer. She couldn’t believe how doctors often left her out of the picture because of so called privacy issues. This was despite her daughter wanting to have her involved. She lamented that doctors are trying to make decisions with often only 30% of the information. This is at best short sighted and at worst bordering on negligence. Even though this beautiful lady did everything in her power to help her daughter she is still haunted by guilt and what might have been. She encouraged me to get the information out as it was so desperately needed. I really feel for her and other caregivers.

Graeme

Tags: , anxiety, carer, depression, guilt, mental illness