Mental Health as Diversity

Diversity is the recognition that people have a variety of characteristics, backgrounds and experiences. It can also refer to the practice of including people from different groups. I am keen to find out through connecting with others and creating this blog how we all think diversity could be applied to mental health so it is more accepted and less stigmatised. To me having a mental health experience at times can make you feel 'othered' and excluded. I am not saying here that the answer is for people having a mental health experience to get 'well' or 'normal' and begin to fit in to the 'normal' model of society again. From my experience once you have been through part or all of the current medicalised mental health model it can and does make changes to you as a person, how you view the world and how you choose to conduct yourself. None of this has to be negative, for instance since my second hospitalisation I have become a lot more, truthful, transparent and authentically about myself regarding my mental health. This has of course passed into other areas of my life as well. What I proposing here is that a mental health experience or multiple mental health experiences ADD value to everyones experience of Diversity and the rich tapastry of life.