The Stop Mental Illness Stigma Charter was developed by Murray Primary Health Network and the Hume and Loddon Mallee Murray Partners in Recovery programs to help organisations in the region reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness and the impact it has on those who experience it.

The charter gives organisations a framework to address the stigma surrounding mental illness in the workplace, with information and resources to help them do so.

It has a focus on keeping organisations and their employees informed about mental illness, mindful of using potentially harmful language and committed to challenging stereotypes.

Murray PHN chief executive officer Matt Jones said language often used to describe mental illness reinforced damaging stereotypes.

The organisation’s chairman Fabian Reid said the use of such words as “crazy” and “nuts” to describe a person were examples.

This was where being informed was important, he said, as it was easy for people to revert to harmful stereotypes when they did not understand mental illness well.

Hume PIR manager Jenny Donnelly said it was also vital people were not reduced to their illness by being referred to by their diagnosis, such as being called a “schizophrenic”.

“That’s not who they are,” Ms Donnelly said.

“They’re not their diagnosis, they’re a person.”

Ms Donnelly said the stigma was “a bit of an insidious thing… and it’s not necessarily deliberate”, a fact that spoke to the need for greater education and awareness.

The charter also asks organisations to be inclusive and supportive, to listen to people who have experienced mental illness and to promote recovery.

Mr Jones said signing the charter was not a statement that the stigma of mental illness had been defeated in the workplace, but that the organisation was taking action to move towards that goal.

He said while it was particularly important health organisations such as Murray PHN got on board with such an initiative, the stigma attached to mental illness was a societal issue and he hoped more workplaces would adopt the charter.

Organisations can access the charter and associated resources by contacting Murray PHN.

The damaging impacts of the stigma surrounding mental health

The creation of the Stop Mental Illness Stigma Charter was driven largely by someone who has seen mental illness from both sides of the fence.

Loddon Mallee Murray PIR project co-ordinator Jodie Rasmussen works with people living with mental illness, and has experienced it herself.

She said this project was driven by the realisation that organisations did not know how to address the stigma of mental illness or start a conversation, and that people with a mental illness did not know how to broach the subject with employers.

Ms Rasmussen said such stigma prevented people seeking treatment and only compounded the trauma of mental illness.

From her experience, she said the misconceptions and connotations of mental illness had a “massive impact” and made people with mental illness doubt themselves, their abilities and whether they should tell people about their condition.

Concerns about how it might affect job prospects was another consequence of the stigma around mental illness, she said.

Forty-five percent of people will experience a mental health issue in their lifetime.

Ms Rasmussen said reducing the stigma surrounding mental illness would be hugely beneficial for those who were already dealing with a mental health issue.

“It will certainly make living with a mental illness easier if you feel you belong in a community… and it will certainly make the road to recovery a lot easier,” Ms Rasmussen said.

If you need immediate assistance for a mental health issue, call Lifeline on 13 11 14. For more information visit the SANE website or talk to your GP or someone you can trust.