I HAVE COME IN CONTACT WITH MENTAL ILLNESS in different ways from an early age - every one is affected in some way, either directly or indirectly. Hearing stories about people not being taken seriously when opening up and asking for help.

People frequently become labeled "healthy" and are expected to manage every day life, carreer and chores just as if they weren't struggeling.

Pushing ourselves too hard while struggeling with mental illness could make basicly any one "ill enough" to recieve mental health care. Then when you actually pass that line (of being ill enough) you are stripped from your independency and labeled "dysfunctional" and "in need of care". Society is extremely polarized when it comes to these kind of problems. There is no such thing like having a "mental cold".

This really made me frustrated and got me tinking. After a while I came up with a project idea. My idea was to create the organization INSIKT to get people talking through a mentorship program, aiming to connect some one who is struggeling today with a mentor having delt with similar problems in the past.

If people struggeling with mental illness could be seen earlier we could help prevent lots of suffering. This is an important reason to initiate these kind of systems where people can recieve help without being "ill enough" to recieve conventional mental health care.

To me wellbeing is essential, but we can not create wellbeing by ignoring absence of it. Ignoring mental health until people are basicly falling apart creates so much unnecessary suffering and also the fact that we dont speak up about our mental health issues sends out a message thatpeople are alone suffering from hard times. The stigma surrounding mental illness is poisonous and I wont give up trying to defeat it, until have really given it a try!