For most of my teenage years, mental health was something that happened to me. Anxiety, isolation and periods of poor mental health shaped huge parts of my life and often made the future feel small and uncertain. Like many people struggling with their mental health, I spent a long time feeling defined by what I couldn’t do rather than what I might still become.
What made a difference during that time was support from voluntary sector organisations and the people within them. I met staff and peer workers who treated me with kindness, dignity and patience at a time when I often struggled to offer those things to myself. They helped me understand that recovery was possible, even if it rarely looked neat or linear.
In my twenties, I experienced something of an epiphany. After years of fear and avoidance, I decided I needed to start saying yes to things. Yes to opportunities. Yes to support. Yes to situations that frightened me. Around that time, I received support from an employment adviser who encouraged me to believe I had something valuable to offer. That support changed the direction of my life more than I could have imagined at the time.
What followed was a career I never expected to have.
I began working in frontline mental health roles, including as a peer support worker, using my own experiences to support other people navigating similar challenges. What had once felt like purely negative experiences slowly became something that could help others feel understood and less alone.
I went on to support the delivery of peer support training and later taught at Recovery College, helping people explore recovery, confidence and self management in supportive learning environments. Those roles taught me a huge amount about people, resilience and the importance of community.
Eventually, I moved into communications work within the voluntary sector, where I have continued to grow and thrive professionally. Although very different from frontline support, the values have remained the same. At its heart, good communications work is still about people, connection, understanding and helping others access support and opportunities.
None of this means my mental health struggles magically disappeared. I still have difficult periods and still have to work hard to manage my mental health. Recovery is not a finish line that you cross once and never think about again. For me, it is an ongoing process of awareness, support, routine, honesty and action.
That is why Mental Health Awareness Week matters.
This year’s theme of action feels particularly important because recovery so often begins with small but meaningful steps. Action to look after your own wellbeing. Action to check in on someone else. Action to challenge stigma. Action to campaign for better mental health services and access to support.
We all have a role to play and we all have the ability to take action in some way.