A Conversation about Mental Health Stigma with Dr. Patrick Corrigan (NEW!)
Although conversations about mental health have become increasingly open among the general public in recent years, people with mental health conditions still experience stigma. This stigma manifests as both public stigma and self-stigma, and can negatively affect an individual’s self-esteem, participation in services, and treatment outcomes.
In this installment of A Mental Health Moment, we speak with Dr. Patrick Corrigan, a leading expert in the field of mental health stigma. In this discussion, we explore the nuances of mental health stigma, particularly its impact on children and youth, as well as the challenges faced by parents of children with mental health conditions. Dr. Corrigan shares his expertise on how stigma develops, the effects it has on families, and what can be done to promote understanding and reduce discrimination. He discusses the Honest, Open, Proud (HOP) peer-led group program he co-developed to reduce mental health stigma, which supports people in the process of disclosing their experience with a mental health condition and outlines different ways they can approach telling their story. He also discusses adaptations of HOP for youth and parents/caregivers of children with mental health conditions, and describes some of the additional considerations when addressing mental health stigma with these populations.
