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For a long time, Comic Relief has been working to promote the rights and support the recovery of people who have mental health problems. But research shows that prejudice against people with mental illness is on the rise.

After being plagued with depression throughout her adult life, Heather spent endless days inside her house, too scared to face the outside world. The thought of seeing or even speaking to another living soul just petrified her. She was too scared to tell her employers about it over fears that she would lose her job, so when bouts of depression forced her to take long-term sick leave, her doctor would come up with various ways of disguising her illness. On returning to work, she noticed that she was being denied opportunities to develop and grow. Unable to cope and talk to her employers, she left her job and drifted through a series of mundane temporary jobs with long periods of time off due to ill health.

Eventually, after meeting and falling in love with her future husband, Heather felt strong enough to apply to work as a media action worker co-ordinating a Comic Relief funded awareness, media and information campaign at South Warwickshire Users Forum. She says, "For the first time, I can be honest about my depression and anxiety. In the past, my doctors and I had to come up with ways of disguising my illness on sick notes."

Comic Relief is supporting a brand new campaign called ‘Time to Change’ which aims to raise awareness of mental health problems in England and tackle the stigma and discrimination that exists. To find out more about the campaign, visit http://www.time-to-change.org.uk

For a full list of our mental health projects in the UK, click here