I am a 1 in 5 - Rosie's Voice

This was written by a fellow Guider:

My daughter Rosie lost her battle against her mental health demons last month (February 2017) and committed suicide. She had fought anorexia, self harm, depression and severe social anxiety for 6 yrs. I'm asking you to please read and share this piece of writing. It is already starting to be used in the UK by teachers youth leaders and medical professionals to open up conversation about mental health and reducing the stigma.Rosie was passionate about future mental health sufferers not having to face the same stigma as she and I both have; and I believe by sharing this and it being used worldwide even if it only helps a handful its still making a difference.

Rosie wrote the following piece (aged 18):

We are all human-

Behind the walls of psychiatric hospitals ('the loony bins') exist the people that have been labelled with mental disorder that by some have been defined as insane.

But where do you draw the line between sanity and insanity?

Yes we are all different, we have a different amount of cells in our body and different coloured hair and eyes and skin. But when it comes to it, when you strip away everything, what's left is a skeleton, the stability the very structure of each and everyone of us.

We may all be individual beings with our own views and perceptions but inevitably we are all the same - human.

Therefore, inside all of us we hold both sanity and insanity, there is no separation or line dividing those two words they aren't two different types of people and It doesn't make anyone less of a person if they are under the mental health services.

So just think before you put down or judge. It lurks in all our bones. Whether with a mental health problem or not, if a heart is still beating then they are alive and every beating heart deserves equality because at the end of the day, yes we are all different but we are all the same too - human.

#MentalHealthMatters

Anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder, from medical complications associated with the illness as well as suicide. Research has found that 20% of anorexia sufferers will die prematurely from their illness. Bulimia is also associated with severe medical complications, and binge eating disorder sufferers often experience the medical complications associated with obesity. In every case, eating disorders severely affect the quality of life of the sufferer and those that care for them.