Anxiety and depression are two of the top mental disorders experienced by young people in Britain, and in general. According to an article by The Guardian in 2013, “nearly a fifth of adults in the UK experience anxiety or depression.” There are various factors that play a role in the occurrence of this mental disorder in people and it varies greatly from person to person.
There are many stigmas attached to anxiety and depression as well as mental disorders overall. For this reason, many people who struggle with these serious issues keep it within to avoid appearing “weak,” “unstable,” “broken,” “crazy,” “irrational…” the list goes on. There is such a stigma that mental health has to have a month, week or day on the calendar in order to receive awareness and for people to talk about it.
Often times when people think about depression, anxiety or most mental illnesses, they don’t picture the face belonging to that of an ex-offender. Nonetheless, based on the ex-offender’s family breakdown (whether they did or didn’t receive support from their family while in prison), the difficulty level in finding employment after release, what the ex-offender experienced during their time in prison, which can lead to post-traumatic stress (another mental disorder), and many other factors, a high level of anxiety and/or depression can occur.
In 2015 the social enterprise, You Press, conducted a project called “One Story, Our Voice: Voices of Redemption.” As You Press is an organization that focuses on encouraging young people to be heard through writing, poetry and overall creativity, their projects aim for social change. The project in 2015 was their second project as an organization and it consisted of pairing 10 ex-offenders (participants) with 12 talented artists, poets, spoken word artists and musicians from the local community. The artists had the privilege of narrating the life stories and experiences of the participants through various artistic techniques which were decided by the participate.
The motivation behind this project came from the reality of a statistic which reports that 45.2% of adult prisoners reoffend within one year of being released. Through the project it was learned that a lack of support, social exclusion, low self-esteem and negative surroundings are some of the links that make ex-offenders vulnerable to reoffending. The better opportunities that an ex-offender has, the less likely they are to commit another crime.
When depression and/or anxiety hits a person, not only do they feel distant and alone, but they are more likely to turn to sources that aren’t necessarily positive as an outlet. In some cases, people experience mental disorders turn to alcohol or drugs as a means of escape. When an ex-offender turns to these substances they may gain an addiction or experience a relapse in addition if they were addicted prior to prison. Considering that alcohol is a depressant, such an outlet also worsens ones mental health.
It is time for mental disorders to be more widely discussed for the stigmas attached to them to drop, so that all people will feel a stronger sense of support. Although ex-offenders are more vulnerable due to the blanket put over mental health awareness, such a step would be good for all people.

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