Stigma impacts individuals that have mental illness, and it also impacts those people that love them. Stigma impacts entire communities and systems of care. The impacts of stigma are so deep that it prevents people from living their true, whole, healthy life. It prevents them and limits them from getting care.
Alice Nuttall is the Associate Vice President of Behavioral Health at Lakeland Regional Health. With over two decades of experience in the field of Behavioral Health, she’s extremely familiar with the struggles of people facing mental health issues and substance abuse disorders.
A huge hurdle that we need to clear as a community, she says, is stigma. Stigma causes those struggling to feel ashamed, embarrassed, and like they don’t deserve care.
The way through is more candid conversations, more openness, more light, more honesty, more compassion–for both ourselves and those struggling around us.
Listen to Alice shed some light on the struggle of overcoming stigma, deeply ingrained “shadow beliefs”, outdated mindsets, and how the key to normalizing mental health is openness & honesty.
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A grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a program of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, funds 100 percent ($123,672) of costs for this program.
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Kayla Williams