When anybody suffers from a physical illness they get a great deal of sympathy and kindness shown to them. However, when you suffer from mental illness there is an altogether different response.

People don’t talk to you about your illness and there is gossip in the neighbourhood about a person being strange or different. People are uncomfortable dealing with mental illness but think how much harder it is for the sufferer.

I am currently training with the Irish Advocacy Network to become a peer advocate, a mental health counsellor. Peer advocacy is not about judging people or telling them what to do. Instead, the peer advocate helps people to take control of their lives and to do positive things for themselves.

I have heard many inspiring stories from people suffering with mental health problems who have rebuilt their lives. One man was living in a run-down caravan with no running water or electricity who went on to become a mental health supervisor with the Irish Advocacy Network.

One girl was hospitalised for twelve years and was told she would never lead a normal life and she has also gone on to become a counsellor. So for mental health sufferers there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Truth
Sticks and stones may break my bones,
But words can also hurt me.
Stones and sticks break only skin,
While words are ghosts that haunt me.
Slant and curved the word swords fall
To pierce and stick inside me.
Bats and bricks may ache through bones,
But words can mortify me.
Pain from words has left its scar,
On mind and heart that’s tender.
Cuts and bruises now have healed;
It’s words that I remember.

The above poem by Barrie Wade was taken from the website of the Irish Advocacy Network: www.irishadvocacynetwork.com