Lucy Brogden: a personal message for Mental Health Week

Suicide prevention is close to Lucy Brogden’s heart.

“Like many families, my family has been touched by suicide. I have friends, people in the community, living with the grief associated with suicide. I also know people living with suicidal thoughts all the time.”

Co-chair of the NMHC’s Advisory Group for Suicide Prevention, Lucy says, “as a community, we need to arrest the growth in suicide. Strong communities lead to strong people lead to strong communities. Together we can make that difference.”

It is in this context Lucy sees Mental Health Week “as something we all need to participate in.”

Lucy is also a stanch advocate for encouraging opportunities to ensure all those in the workforce, including people with mental health difficulties and their supporters, get the assistance they need through her involvement in the Mentally Healthy Workplace Alliance.

“We work with organisations to help them keep the well well, accommodate those who live with mental illness … and create opportunities for those who have never participated in employment, paid or voluntary.

“We all have a right to a contributing life.”