Linda Dunion
Linda Dunion was Campaign Director for ‘see me’ from 2002-2007. She has set up her own social change consultancy, See-Change.
Travelling round Scotland in the first six months of 2002, finding out what people wanted from the first national anti-stigma campaign, left me in no doubt of the scale and urgency of the task. ‘Thank goodness something’s going to be done about stigma!’ If I heard it once, I heard it dozens of times the length and breadth of the country.
The ‘see me’ vision was, and remains, a Scotland where people are not stigmatised or discriminated against because of mental ill-health; where individuals and those closest to them are no longer fearful of being open about mental health problems, and where media coverage is balanced, accurate and fair.
These are issues of rights, citizenship and equalities. A history of mental ill-health too often undermines individuals’ ability to participate fully in society. It damages job prospects and relationships, and leads to isolation. For many people, it is the stigma, and sometimes the expectation of stigma, rather than the symptoms of mental ill-health that does most harm.
From the start, it was people with direct experience of stigma that gave ‘see me’ its strength and its credibility. They helped shape the look, sound and feel of the campaign, and came up with the name, ‘see me’. Individuals spoke out in the media, spread campaign materials in local areas and championed the cause in schools and workplaces. This has led to changes in media reporting and improvements in public attitudes.
Six years on and the signs are promising. Last year, a major ‘see me’ survey of people with experience of mental ill-health and those closest to them found that being open about having a mental health problem is becoming easier, media coverage is improving and the public is generally more accepting. It would be premature to claim that we live in a stigma-free Scotland but there has been real and measurable progress.
Like other members of the National Programme family, ‘see me’ has acted as a catalyst for change, successfully enlisting the help of businesses, football clubs, schools, workplaces, trade unions, local authorities, health boards and many more. Efforts now need to be made to expand the scale, scope and ownership of such initiatives into all sectors of Scottish society.
It is time to get mental health issues out of the health box and into the mainstream of Scottish life. There is growing recognition that the mentally flourishing Scotland agenda is inextricably linked to other national priorities such as reducing poverty, tackling health inequalities, community safety, discrimination and sustainable development. The overarching aim is to improve the quality of life of Scotland’s people, particularly those who are most disadvantaged: the unifying vision is a mentally flourishing Scotland.
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