'Don't suffer in silence' - people in West Lothian urged to talk about mental health

People across West Lothian are invited to say what they really mean when asked how they are, and have an open conversation about mental health.See Me, Scotland’s programme to end mental health stigma and discrimination, is urging everyone start this with Time to Talk Day, on Thursday, February 1.The programme is asking Scots to get thinking about how they can start a conversation about mental health stigma – particularly in workplaces, schools, colleges, communities and with friends and family, ahead of the big day next month.Time to Talk Day is the UK’s biggest conversation on mental health stigma, helping to break down barriers and reduce the stigma which prevents so many from asking for help when they need it.Last year, there was a mix of online and in-person events and activities across the country, to get as many people as possible talking about mental health, and is why See Me is hoping this year is an even bigger success.See Me volunteer Chik Duncan found that being open about talking about his mental health felt much easier than trying to hide it.

Chik, who has a diagnosis of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), said that being honest felt “a lot easier than not talking about it”.He said: “At the very beginning, when I started to become unwell, it was quite gradual.

I certainly didn’t understand what was happening to me. It wasn’t so much that I was denying I was unwell or that I was telling anyone I was ‘fine’ – I just wasn’t telling anybody anything.“I would be going out and about with friends, and quite often I would be late to things.

But I wouldn’t give the real reason. I would said, ‘I got held up’.”Chik went on to explain it wasn’t until he had the help of friends and seeing a psychologist that he opened