hero's mission: Transforming Stigma into Strength
Understanding the Cycle of Stigma
“The threat of stigma is so powerful as to prevent the vast majority from obtaining even an initial interview with a professional. Stigma is personal.”
Certified Peer Recovery Coaching
Certified Peer Recovery Coaching
“The threat of stigma is so powerful as to prevent the vast majority from obtaining even an initial interview with a professional. Stigma is personal.”
In the Hero’s Journey, we learned that the Hero goes away to a Strange place (Magical World) and discovers a magic talent or formula that helps him/her overcome a serious and debilitating flaw. Then we learned that the Hero must return (cf. Prodigal’s Return) and share that discovery with the former community in the Ordinary world. We saw how this Archetypal Journey represents our experiences with Mental Illness/Substance Use and our successful Recovery and consequent Health and Wellbeing.
Stigma generally includes:
Stereotypes: unfair beliefs that all people with particular characteristics are the same
Prejudice: unfair feelings or dislike for persons or groups because of sex, religion, race, creed or national origin, etc.
Discrimination: the practice of unfairness by treating persons or groups differently from other persons or groups.
So; stereotypes are related to thoughts, prejudice comes from feelings, and discrimination relates to behavior. All of these adversely affect our MH. Stigma affects all of these; our thoughts, our feelings, and our behavior.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) states that stigma leads to:
With three-quarters of our population with diagnosable MH issues not seeking treatment, our society is suffering from stigma and unable to live up to our full potential. Stigma is often worse than the MH/SU challenges themselves. It is both a subtle influence and broadly felt experience. In my experience:
But there is Hope: by understanding more about stigma, we can strive to overcome its effects.
The Cycle of Stigma
Reference to stigma involves not just the formal definition: an attribute of shame. It refers to an entire cyclical system that features shame as the initiator.
Aspects (or all) of this cycle are present both in the lives of MH Individuals and someone who loves or cares for another who lives with MH challenges.
Our Mission:
Our mission is turn this knowledge of the effects of stigma into a source of strength, recovery and renewal. This will enable the following dramatic transformations in our lives: