The protest today was in equal parts both saddening and inspiring. It was beautiful to see so many people out in force to support what is so important in every single person's life: their mental health. Good mental health is vital in everyone's life, and those of you who have experienced mental health issues will know how crucial it is for there to be an open, honest and safe place to get help. Cutting funding from an already underfunded area of health in Ireland is not what we need. I experienced my first mental health issue when I was in school. I didn't know what I was feeling, I attributed it to being a teenager and being not very "cool". When I moved to London for work, the industry that I was in completely crushed my soul, leaving me feeling like a blank piece of paper with nothing to offer anybody. The loneliness, isolation and pressure that I was under, I attributed it to "the industry" and "that's just the way it is". I didnt even realise what an impact it had on me until i got a call to go back, and the sinple mention of it made me into a panicked slimey snotty uncontrollable mess. However, I still didn't think I was suffering from a mental health issue. It was only when I came to college and started studying Psychology that I realised that the thoughts I was having were not, in fact, normal and that only 17% of people had the same extreme thoughts that I had had. 17% felt like so little to me because I had no idea that my thoughts were abnormal. The fact that I had no idea that what I was feeling was anxiety and depression is scary. There was nowhere for me to go at that time to talk and get help. I am so thankful for my friends who are so open and for the Trinity counselling, and I'm so lucky to be able to talk to people for free. There are so many people who can't get the help they needed because of the cuts in this sector. I sentence in a UT article yesterday really stood out to me: "If you’ve never attended a funeral for someone who has died by suicide, then you should consider yourself lucky. I promise you that you won’t want to be there." I have known too many people to take their lives in this little old world. Cuts cost lives. #IAmAReason (at Dáil Éireann)
