In honor of May is Mental Health Awareness Month, members of Disability Rights California’s Mental Health Employee Resource group, Peer Self-Advocacy Program, and The Peer Connection would like to share this video with you to show you the many faces of mental health. Some might think a person with a mental health disability has a certain “look,” but we are each unique in our own way. So we want to share a video of our peers - people with lived experience with mental health disabilities, to make visible what is often an invisible disability.

As people with lived experience, we face the decision whether to disclose our disability to others every day. Are we going to tell anyone, and if so, who, when and where? It is an important and sometimes difficult decision, especially since there is a lot of stigma around mental health. So with this video, we are “out and “proud” and want to show you the many different faces of mental health. We want to encourage you to be open and talk about your own disability – it’s a meaningful step toward Stopping the Stigma. It’s the best way to increase awareness and understanding and get the support you need. We are not alone.

We encourage employers to take note of how many of these faces are employees just like yours. Hire new employees for who they are, based on their strengths and skills rather than the stigma and misunderstandings about mental health. We are here, we are everywhere – see us for who we are.

• What does Mental Health Look Like (Spanish)
• What does Mental Health Look Like (Voice Over)