‘The problem is not with your body, but with what you think of it, and yourself ‘

It was a funny old week, last week. There was the small matter of celebrating my birthday – and as is the fashion these days, I can say I was 21 again. The rain came and brightened up the garden. I had an interesting conversation about how Wigan Council had used ethnography to better understand the needs of their communities. The shed got painted a delicate shade of purple. Three peafowl eggs were placed in the incubator (something for the neighbours to look forward to if they ever hatch). And the TV aerial man came and fixed the reception problem. You might think this last occurrence was rather banal, but no, it meant two things.

(1)  I got to see Hatari: the bondage inspired, techno-punk, cyber-goth, opera-influenced group from Iceland (their description not mine) perform in this year’s Eurovison show.

(2)   More importantly, I could watch (thank the Lord for catch up TV) the wonderful programmes that marked the 2019 #MentalHealthAwareness week. This year’s theme was ‘Body Image’. Whilst being concerned with how you look, or how your body compares to others is not a mental health problem in itself, it can be a factor in the development of a mental health problem. One of my PhD students completed his study last year which looked at men with an eating disorder. It was clear from his research that for his participants, being unhappy with their body and body image gave rise to mental health distress and a much poorer quality of life.

#MentalHealthAwarenessWeek was ‘hosted’ by the Mental Health Foundation. They conducted an online survey earlier this year that involved over 5,000 adults and young people. The results clearly showed there was a connection between perceptions of body image and mental health problems: just over a third of the respondents had felt anxious and/or depressed because of their body image; one in eight adults had experienced suicidal thoughts or feelings because of concerns over their body image; one in five said that advertising images caused them to worry about their body image and the same was true for images on social media.You can see their survey results and much more here. Their work helped in raising awareness of mental health issues.

The BBC did their bit too. There was some absolutely fantastic programming during the week. You can still catch much of the coverage on iPlayer, and also on the BBC Media Centre, where a wide range of material can be found, including many of the programmes shown. In a week that has seen much in the news about programmes such as the Jeremy Kyle Show and Love Island (both not BBC programmes), I also liked the fact that the BBC as an organisation practise what they preach. Over 900 mental health first aiders have been trained to provide support and advice to any colleague who needs help with a mental health issue. They provide specialist support such as counselling, trauma support and occupational health, and have an organisation wide campaign called ‘Open Up’ which aims to encourage people to start a conversation about mental health at work and the help that is available. 

It will be interesting to see if this approach reaches out to guests of the BBC. Later this morning J will be on the BBC One Sunday Politics (North West) programme talking about the upcoming European Parliament elections. 

It is all good stuff and I’m sure will make a difference. So, against such a positive week, I was a little disheartened to read the story of Kady Lee, who was convicted by a Magistrates’ Court for causing a ‘public nuisance’. Kady had threatened to jump off a bridge over the M602 motorway in Manchester. It was said that almost 1,000 motorists had been inconvenienced by her action (the motorway was closed for 15 mins), and there was a cost of £560 to pay for specially-trained negotiators.  It wasn’t the first time she had threatened to end her life in this way. In fact, on five other occasions, the Police had been called to deal with her during similar incidents. The court heard that she lived with a personality disorder and was grieving the loss of her mother who had died suddenly last year. Earlier this year her grandmother and uncle had also died. She had never been in trouble with the Police before then.

Katy was fined £200 and placed on a 12-month Community Order. This might be the ‘appropriate’ sentence according to the sentencing guidelines for this type of offence, and one of the requirements Magistrates can impose is a requirement to receive mental health help to explore and address any underlying reasons for offending. I was a Magistrate for some 18 years before retiring from the bench. One of the added values that I felt I always brought to my court sittings was my experience of being a mental health worker professional and having an understanding of mental health care services. 

Whilst I wasn’t in court to hear the Magistrates sentence Katy, their reported words made me feel very sad: ‘this [the incident] has caused massive inconvenience to the public and no-one wants to be subject to this sort of inconvenience’; ‘you must move forward with your life. This sort of behaviour doesn’t cause anyone any good, least of all you’; use this [Community Order] well to deal with your bereavement’. These words do sound a bit harsh, but I wasn’t there to hear how these words were spoken. I can only hope they were said with compassion.