Of course, we all want teachers to know how to explain basic math, geography and English skills to our children. But wouldn’t it be wonderful if they could also offer up some wisdom on what common psychiatric disorders consist of, and how kids can better educate themselves on how to deal with them? Both in themselves and in their classmates?

I have suffered from depression, on-and-off, since the age of five or six. It wasn’t until I was locked away in a psychiatric institution that I began to feel as though I was actually ‘mentally ill.’

For forty hours a week, I get the opportunity to work with one of the most stigmatized populations that exist in North America: men who have recently been granted parole who also are fighting life-threatening addictions. These gentlemen have a double-whammy when it comes to stigma. Not only are they stigmatized due to their criminal records, they are stigmatized due to their addiction. And many on top of that, are also stigmatized for their mental health issues.

Many theories abound as to why mental health stigma plays such a major role in society. But one undeniable truth is that the media have likely done more harm than good. A Canadian news story caught the attention of the world in 2009 when Vince Li, a Chinese immigrant to Canada with schizophrenia, suffered a psychotic break and brutally murdered and decapitated Greyhound bus passenger, Tim McLean.

Surviving a psychiatric crisis is one thing.  Overcoming one is something completely different. About eleven years ago, I was hospitalized in a highly secure psychiatric hospital for drug-induced psychosis.  Not one of those fancy, new age psychiatric hospitals either.  It was the type that sat on top of an ominous hill on the outskirts of town.  The type that spawned hundreds of urban legends about town about the ‘people on the hill.’  The type that hadn’t been painted in fifty years and reeked of death, urine and incarceration.  An asylum, essentially.

Mental health stigma is a prejudice that turns into discrimination. It’s an ugly, six letter word that can single-handedly dictate how your life will turn out. Stigma can mean the difference between getting that dream job, or remaining unemployed. Between loving a partner, or remaining single. It can also mean the difference between remaining in hiding or coming out of the mental illness closet.