The first week of October is Mental Illness Awareness Week. It was established in 1990 to highlight the work that the National Alliance on Mental Illness has done to raise awareness about mental illnesses, to celebrate the successes in the movement, and to provide public education about mental illness across the country.

The NAMI uses the week-long campaign to hold awareness events at the local, state and national levels. Outreach, educational programs and advocacy events are normally conducted, and a focus on recovery is also a main feature. Real recovery, says the NAMI, is completely possible, but it requires lots of understanding, community action, and teamwork.

“Recovery is possible because of improved science, better community supports and reduced stigma,” declares the NAMI website. Of course, many challenges remain: many mental health services are being cut as we speak, and insurance is either often unavailable, or attached with such a social stigma that patients are uncomfortable accepting it. While these roadblocks still exist, we can still work together in combating them and making the world a safer place that is conducive of healing and recovery.

You can help the movement by getting involved this week. Click here for free information, posters, and stickers for downloading. Be a shoulder for a friend or loved one with mental illness to lean on, or an advocate for their rights. And just as importantly, be sure to spread the truth about mental illness. Here are some facts you may want to share with others.

• Mental illness is real. It is a genuine medical condition. Ask people who doubt that if they doubt the reality of diabetes or heart disease.
• Mental illness often results in disrupting a person’s day-to-day life. It can impact a person’s moods, thinking, feeling, and ability to relate to others. That’s why it’s so important to not mock people with a mental illness and instead get them the help they need. They can’t just “snap out of it” because you say they need to.
• Many serious mental illnesses exist that may result in lifetime treatments. This does not mean that the patients cannot get better; on the contrary, they often can with good professional help. Some of these include schizophrenia, major depression, panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder, and post traumatic stress disorder. If you know someone suffering from one of these illnesses or any other similar conditions, offer compassion, not judgment; they did not choose to have the illness.

As a sufferer of mental illness while I was in high school, I surprisingly received a stigma not from my peers, who were understanding for the most part, but from one peer’s parents—and several teachers. Two teachers openly mocked me in class and a friend’s parent said she didn’t want her to have contact with me. Was I dangerous? No, but I “brought her down.” Though I still maintained a high grade point average and functioned as normally as I possibly could, since I was “sad so much” I couldn’t possibly be a healthy friend.

Thankfully I did have friends who cared a little more than that, and parents who were willing to take me to get help before my illness progressed into something even more serious. The funny thing is, a lot of people say that it’s all in your head—that you want attention, that nothing is really wrong with you. But the only thing I wanted was to be left alone—which is the last thing a person with a mental illness needs! Many people who suffer from a mental illness don’t want help at all because they are embarrassed that “something is wrong” with them—and that it must be their own fault. This is simply not true.

If you have symptoms of a mental illness—or you have a loved one who might—be sure to seek out help immediately. No longer on any medication or therapy, I can vouch for the ability to make a complete recovery, and tell you that a happier life really is possible. Ask your family doctor for more information.