Street Wisdom To Overcome Mental Health Stigma Throughout our lives we all want to become part of the group, and stigma can arise from factors as innocent as your brand of sneakers. – Mike Veny He Started Thinking About Stigma Early Mike Veny’s path to becoming a public speaker became evident at an early age. He convinced the staff at psychiatric hospitals to discharge him three times during his childhood. In addition to being hospitalized as a child, he was expelled from 3 schools, attempted suicide, and was regularly medicated in efforts to reduce his emotional instability and behavioral outbursts. By the fifth grade, Mike was put in a special education class. Aside from getting more individualized attention from the teacher, he learned that pencil erasers make a great drumming sound when tapped on a desk. He had no idea that real drumming would become his career as well as his path to recovery for his many troubling experiences with repeated mental health stigma. Today his interesting perspectives help others understand the need for improved conversations about mind health and recovery. Note: This a reposting of a popular previous publication 2 years ago. His Current Mission With Stigma Mike Veny is both a leading mental health speaker and a high energy drum circle facilitator. He delivers educational, engaging, and entertaining presentations to meetings and conferences throughout the world – with an emphasis on translating thought into action. Mike is fiercely committed to wellness, suicide prevention, and helping people work together more smoothly. With 15 years of experience, his mission is to empower people to connect authentically wherever they work or live, from schools to corporate groupings. * Mike’s perspectives have been featured on ABC, NBC, and CBS news. * He’s a regular guest on The Fresh Outlook TV news show, * a writer for Corporate Wellness Magazine * HealthCentral.com * Mental Illness is An Asset * His compelling TEDx presentation below is used in college classrooms with excellent reviews. ————- Mike Veny: Here At CBJ/313 I take drumming into my mental health presentations I bring people together through a drumming process I do have some “issues” from childhood “You never fail until you stop trying” Stigma arises from labels and a sense of shame We just don’t want to be weird Once I got comfortable talking about myself my life changed What you can and cannot talk about His Website * www.TransformingStigma.com * Mike’s TEDx Talk on YouTube: Mental Illness is an Asset References * Breaking The Silence: The Stigma of Mental Illness Polly Fielding – Global Amazon Link Previous CBJ Interviews & Pages – That Address Stigma In truth, every interviewer here at CBJ addresses the importance of underlying, overlooked factors that lead to stigma and labels. Inadequate diagnosis, those reductionistic labels, create treatment failure and open up the ignorance of blame. These several guests clearly focus on correcting that specific perspective. Get with it, own the details. Dr. Robert Hedaya – Biological Measures – http://corebrainjournal.com/007 Dr. Robert Melillo – Brain Balance – http://corebrainjournal.com/010