The House of Commons is full of wonderful and contrasting characters. I often think it is at its best when MP's speak, from the heart, about their personal experiences.
This is exactly what happened three weeks ago in a debate on mental health. Most of us know someone who has been affected by this disease, and it is fair to say that awareness and understanding has sharply increased over the last 20 years. However, more can be done. This is why I applaud those members who spoke so frankly, and so movingly, about their own experiences. What they did is not easy, and the MPs Charles Walker, Kevan Jones and Dr. Sarah Wollaston in particular deserve great credit for bringing this important issue to the fore.
For Charles and Kevan's speeches click here- http://conservativehome.blogs.com/parliament/2012/06/read-the-whole-of-charles-walker-mps-brave-commons-speech-today-about-his-mental-health-history.html
Closer to home, but no less inspirational, is my constituent Katherine Wilkinson. She is getting famous through her honesty and her 30 day challenge. Having suffered from depression for 7 years, she was only recently diagnosed in March and she is, as her blog makes clear, "on a mission to raise awareness". Her "30 day challenge", is a whole month of weird and wacky challenges to raise money for the Depression Alliance charity. These range from "Cream cake conversation world record attempt" (which she did for 5 mins 57 secs) to learning to DJ. What she is doing is incredible and I think this brave and determined young lady deserves all of our support.
For more details, visit her blog at http://browsemythoughts.tumblr.com/, or donate to the Depression Alliance Charity at
http://www.justgiving.com/KatherineWilkinson21
For Charles and Kevan's speeches click here- http://conservativehome.blogs.com/parliament/2012/06/read-the-whole-of-charles-walker-mps-brave-commons-speech-today-about-his-mental-health-history.html
Closer to home, but no less inspirational, is my constituent Katherine Wilkinson. She is getting famous through her honesty and her 30 day challenge. Having suffered from depression for 7 years, she was only recently diagnosed in March and she is, as her blog makes clear, "on a mission to raise awareness". Her "30 day challenge", is a whole month of weird and wacky challenges to raise money for the Depression Alliance charity. These range from "Cream cake conversation world record attempt" (which she did for 5 mins 57 secs) to learning to DJ. What she is doing is incredible and I think this brave and determined young lady deserves all of our support.
For more details, visit her blog at http://browsemythoughts.tumblr.com/, or donate to the Depression Alliance Charity at
http://www.justgiving.com/KatherineWilkinson21
