Lived Experience Forum

[NikNik]

Hi everyone,

We are excited to announce that employment service and not for profit organisation, Ostara Australia is one of our newest Forum partners.

Ostara Australia is putting together an advocacy poster as part of its mental health week #investmental campaign.

The objective of the advocacy poster is to raise awareness and understanding about the prejudice that people living with a mental health condition often face in the workplace or when trying to find work.

The poster will include a word cloud (or a few words) with content contributed by people living with a mental health condition, that highlight the kind of prejudice they have faced in relation to work.  Some examples of prejudice comments/references may include things like:

·         “She’s unreliable”
·         “You won’t be able to cope”

We want to hear from you some of the comments you have heard, come across and/or feel others think about people with a mental health condition, in the workplace or when looking for work.
 
Some comments may appear confronting when writing them, but these confrontational statements may be the words that really help us grab public attention and raise as much awareness as possible, which helps us break down stigma.

Post comments of prejudice you have faced, below.

[Eagle]

"What if he flips out?"

[NikNik]

Thanks @Eagle

Another big call out for you thoughts!

[chookmojo]

"You take too much time off."

"Calm down! Why are you getting so worked up over nothing?"

"Are you crying again?"

"Don't s lit your wrists over it! Haha!"

"Sick days are for when you are actually sick!"

"What are those scars, do you like cut yourself? What are you, emo?"

"Can't have you scaring the customers!"

"Ugh! Can't you at least pretend to be normal?!"

[NikNik]

@chookmojo - Thank you for sharing these.

I hope you haven't had to expereince any of these first hand 😞

[chookmojo]

@NikNik

Almost all of those are first hand, one of them was said to a coworker.

[Krissy]

Thank you Eagle and Chookmojo for your submissions.

I'm sorry that this has been your experience, but thank you so much for sharing them with us as they are perfect examples to add to our advocacy poster.

If anyone else would like to submit comments, we would love to hear from you! 🙂

Thank you from Ostara Australia

[Ma60]

so they let you out after been hospitalised

[Ma60]

I love to stir you up about mental health spoken by work colleague

[Tess]

"You need to calm down and act professionally" "you need to keep your emotions in check" - said to me when having a panic attack

"Working in team XX won't be a good environment for you" - decided without asking me

"You make issues bigger than what they really are" "it's all in your head"
- issues I raise in the workplace are always dismissed as not real and instead just a sign that I am unwell

"You need to build some resilience" - I am resilient, i left work the day before completely broken but recovered enough to go through it again the next day. But at work the definition of resilience is "not bothered by anything"