Cate Dickinson
Cate (aka Cate Light) was first diagnosed with a mental illness when she was 14 and experiencing anxiety.
"I've experienced [mental illness] most of my life. I've been battling depression and also an eating disorder, anorexia, as well," she says.
But for Cate, it's not just the illnesses themselves, but her experience of unfair treatment that has had a profound effect and has touched a few areas in her life.
"In the general community I have been discriminated against; people look at me differently, treat me differently, how they view me changes as well when they know [that I have experienced mental illness]," she says.
The worst situation, though, is in regard to the stigma she feels when it comes to her ability to be a parent.
"I have a child and I have had to battle just to get access to him. My illness has been used as a weapon against me," she explains.
She believes in speaking out about mental illness in order to counteract this unfairness but admits it can be hard at times.
"Trying to get back into the workplace, well, I find it challenging. It's tricky to describe to people, and you have to really experience it, but I'd rather someone got to know me as a person rather than as someone with a mental illness," she says.
While Cate believes that the general population's attitude towards people with mental illness is changing, she says there is still a lot of room for improvement.
"There really have been changes, great ones, through media coverage but, on the other hand, I think there's still a long way to go in how the media often portrays mental illness. A lot of media coverage says that someone has killed someone else and they have a mental illness.
"There is a lot of stigma against people with mental illness and there is the belief that they are violent," she says.
This is a common issue even though research has shown that the vast majority of people with mental illness are no more likely than anyone else to commit a violent crime. People with mental illness are more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators.
Despite her personal experiences and observations, Cate is still hopeful that attitudes towards people with a mental illness will continue to improve.
"There's still a long way to go but I think discrimination will decrease. I think people, like me, who have experienced [mental illness] will learn to trust others, with the support of the people around them - it's important to have people around you. People speaking out will make attitudes change. I really believe that," she says.
In fact, this belief has given her a real sense of purpose: "You have to make something good out of [the mental illness], something beautiful. It's the reason I'm here."
