We had an amazing opportunity to partner with See Me Scotland to work on a project exploring the understanding of mental health stigma and discrimination. This gave our young women the opportunity to explore mental health sigma and discrimination from a survivor’s perspective. With the support from an artist/researcher, Nic, the young women created images and narratives that captured their experiences of social, professional and self-stigma. Themes from their work included being labelled with diagnoses, victim blaming, power & control, lack of understanding on substance use as coping strategies, and loneliness & isolation. A particular theme that resonated throughout the project was the projected feeling of having something wrong them rather than others acknowledging their traumatic experiences as something that has happened to them. The collaborative images were brought together to create a comic book that highlighted how stigma and discrimination impacted their daily lives. This was a great way for our young women to work together and connect over their shared experiences in order to raise awareness of the sometimes hidden struggles that they face on a daily basis.
