Yesterday marked World Mental Health Day; an important day for bringing together the great and the good to talk about what we could be doing to reduce the stigma associated with mental health problems.

Let’s add a disclaimer: I’m NOT one of the great or the good, I was there purely because I’ve suffered (DO suffer) from mental health problems!

In fact, I’ve written at length about my own battles with depression, anxiety and a number of other mental health problems that have featured in my life for 8 years now.

We attended an event held by Heads Together to share that story with some fantastic people, and after having the opportunity to not only meet, but chat to Prince Harry, I’d have to say that I have a new mancrush!

The idea behind Heads Together is to get people talking and opening up about mental health problems — as they say, mental health is as real as physical health, we should look after it just as we do the physical. But for many, the thought of admitting they have some sort of problem can be unbearable, even more so when there is the feeling that they may be judged because of it.

I’m happy to admit I’ve struggled, but perhaps that’s where the problem starts; ‘admitting’ to something implies that it’s wrong, something that we should be ashamed of, but it isn’t.

I’m happy to say that I’ve had mental health issues, but then I have no boss and other than my business partner Helen, I don’t have to work with anyone else. Would I be quite so open about them if I was still working for an uneducated, narrow minded boss that thought it funny to call someone a ‘fat bastard’ every day because they carried a few extra pounds? I don’t think I would.

So where does that leave us? Perhaps it’s about education; both for the people suffering from problems and for their peers?

Personally, despite the anxiety and self-confidence issues, I’d rather just have it out there in the open, perhaps we need to say to everyone, “you know what, f*** it, this is me”. But again, I realise that not everyone is in that position.

So finally, that brings us to another solution; getting society to be open enough to understand and accept that just like physical health problems such as cancer or gout or even arthritis, our mind can also suffer the effects of an illness, and it is an ILLNESS.

I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts on this; it’s only really through getting society debating and talking about this that things will change.