“If you put shame in a Petri dish, it needs three things to grow exponentially: secrecy, silence and judgment. If you put the same amount of shame in a Petri dish and douse it with empathy, it can’t survive.”
At Stories of Hope we believe that a part of our healing is sharing our story. We don’t encourage sharing for the sake of sharing, and we recognize that there is a time and place to share your story. However, as the quote reminds us, silence and secrecy increases shame. And we firmly believe that shame is a prison.
““Shame is best defined as the intensely painful feeling or experience of believing we are flawed and therefore unworthy of acceptance and belonging”... Shame creates fear, blame and disconnection.”
One step in the breaking out of prison journey is sharing. Sharing doesn’t require a massive platform, it can be simply sharing with a trusted person so you aren’t alone. The challenge with sharing is that, for many, we have been made to feel ashamed of our experiences/diagnosis/challenges and as a result, find ourselves living in shame. Breaking the silence to talk about our story becomes a feat.
Our campaign in 2019 was designed to bring awareness about the various challenges we experience. It was a platform to …..get a healthy conversation around mental health. To demystify and destigmatize having a diagnosis. To break the silence. The campaign is #shameless as we stand to renounce the shame that has historically been attached to mental illness.