A recent survey by the Shaw Trust revealed almost 70% of Edinburgh workers would not feel comfortable disclosing a mental health condition.  (The Shaw Trust is a national charity that provides training and work opportunities for people who are disadvantaged in the labour market due to disability, ill health or other social circumstances. The Trust are the largest voluntary sector provider of employment services for disabled people in the UK).

A paltry 6.5% would reveal mental health issues to colleagues, while the percentage who would be willing to raise matters with their human resources department dropped to 4.3%.  Given the current economic climate, there is every likelihood these figures will drop even further as employees are reluctant to draw attention to what might be perceived as shortcomings.

The Shaw Trust have launched a website www.tacklementalhealth.org.uk, to provide employees, and managers, free advice on supporting mental health issues in the workplace.  (Of course, mental conditions are equally likely to affect managers).  This website covers early warning signs of mental health conditions, and outlines how to broach the subject, and how to manage employees with mental health issues.I know from personal experience that when I was discharged from psychiatric hospital, I tended to tell people that I’d been undergoing rehab, rather than admit to being treated for bipolar disorder.

Society is still all too ready to jump to conclusions and crack jokes about ‘wee yellow vans’.

Today I was invited to give a talk about my experiences of mental illness at the Community Voices event - part of the Scottish Mental Health Art and Film Festival.  Held in the Burns Room, there was a tremendous variety of speakers, some with direct experience of mental breakdown, including poignant testimonies from suicide survivors, to representatives from several of Scotland’s vibrant community writing workshops.

There were group contributions, such as the Maryhill Writers, and strong individual voices, including poetry, prose, and acoustic guitar spots.  The latter genre included an excellent piece by acclaimed folk-rock/soul musician Crawford Smith.I was promoting my recently published novel, BrainBomb, and read an excerpt from the section where the central character begins coming to terms with the fact that he has found himself in a locked psychiatric ward.The Mitchell Library was as superb setting for the rich variety of literary delights.

The organisers of the event, Lapidus, are to be commended for organising this life-affirming event.  Mental illness, often a silent scourge, often a lethal one, continues to inspire positive messages of support that sufferers and their families are not alone.