Your words matter - the stigma around mental health

As part of the #IAMWHOLE campaign we asked more than 1,000 young people to tell us about the negative words used about people experiencing mental health difficulties.

The young people featured in this video are all finalists at YMCA Youth Matters Awards 2017, Youth Ambassadors or have experiences of mental health difficulties.

[haroldmaio]

THat we have been trained to say there is a stigma to mental illnesses illustrates just how easily prejudices can be trained into us.

[krisrhood]

Elwyn Institute is a school for disabled people near where I live. I remember being on public transportation and hearing a man talking about the "freaks from Elwyn" which made me angry because I had friends from Elwyn.
I also remember riding the bus with a family who were sitting in the disabled seats with an older member who kept joking about them being the R word
They were black. I wonder how they would like it if I called them the N word

[petitpois]

Yes, I have used those words & some are a danger.

[laurieberry]

I wonder where I learned these words. I am
sorry that I used the word weirdo. There are many words that are offensive that are used often by people who don’t deserve to use those words.