The first animation that was created with our funding from See Me Scotland is available to watch on YouTube now. Click here to watch the animation. We were awarded this funding by See Me Scotland’s anti-stigma arts fund back in April of 2021 and you can click here to read the blog post announcing this funding.
This is the first of three animations created with this funding, and they were co-produced by our Community Correspondents and Amanda Craig from Third Sector Labs. The animations explore the lived experience of people experiencing stigma due to what is sometimes referred to as ‘severe and enduring mental illness’.
Our correspondents believe that there is great work being done to reduce the stigma around mental illness, but that there is still a large amount of stigma against those who suffer from severe and enduring mental health issues. These animations were created over a series of workshops which included enlightening and sometimes difficult conversations about the extra stigma that accompanies a long-term mental health problem.
We think it’s great that, these days, people are more open when it comes to discussions around mental health. But this doesn’t escape the face that for some people, mental illness is not something that passes. Mental illness can look like periods in hospital, hearing voices or other things that usually are not included in everyday conversations about mental health. Dealing with these symptoms is hard work, and these animations aim to explore what it’s like to deal with the stigma that accompanies more long-term mental illnesses that have not been de-stigmatised.
We’ll be sharing some Instagram stories that give you the opportunity to share your own experiences of dealing with stigma around mental health, as well as voting in a poll. The Instagram handle is @mindwaves_scot
We will also be chatting de-stigmatising mental illness on Twitter @MindWaves1
A really powerful message – excellent voiceover and the animation brilliantly symbolises the relationship between mental illness and stigma! I will share this to promote understanding and discussion around the subject of mental health stigma! Thank you!