Teesside man encouraging people to talk about mental health after his own journey
It's World Mental Health Day today
A Teesside mental health anti-stigma campaigner says talking about his own journey of depression is helping others to open up.
Lawrence Butterfield from Guisborough says he knows that stigma is a barrier - especially for men.
He says he had a breakdown, which he is calling a 'breakthrough' instead, in 2009.
On World Mental Health Day he's encouraging people to have more chats over a cup of tea and said: "People are more inclined, more likely, to believe somebody if it comes from the spoken mouth. Real-life experiences resonate with a lot of people. A lot of people I've spoken to over the years have said that it's the lived experiences that have really resonated with them.
"And I think being a qualified mental health nurse at the time, and being a man, really helped, given that I was so open about my mental health journey. I think people sort of thought, 'that's quite a powerful combination. You know, this guy is a qualified psychiatric nurse, but he's also very open about his own mental health.'
"It's more acceptable now for people to be open and honest. There is no harm in reaching out and talking about it. And also, you don't have to go to a qualified clinician. Sometimes it's just having a chat over a cup of tea, with somebody offering a listening ear.
"It's amazing how people's mood can change, even just from letting go of something, a worry that they have. There's that old saying: "A worry shared is a worry halved." And sometimes, when people open up about their own mental health, or maybe symptoms that they're having, they find out that the person they're talking to has had similar symptoms."