Diversity in Movember

Diversity in Movember

In celebration of Movember, Diversityworks Trust has created its own group, Diversitymo, to help raise funds for men's mental health and cancer prevention.

Trust director Philip Patston, who will grow a moustache to support the cause, said he experienced undiagnosed depression as a teenager and in his early 20s.

"I used reframing techniques like neurolinguistic programming that I learnt as a counsellor to become well," said the gay disabled comedian and 1999 winner of the Billy T Award. "Even now I am still prone to depressive thoughts but I keep well through humour and creativity."

A group of people often overlooked by mental health campaigns are young people, including young men, who experience disability, said Patston. "The stress that people endure – including bullying, peer exclusion, worry over finances and support – largely goes unnoticed by mental health and disability services, fuelled by the myth that disabled people are 'looked after' by families or the state."

He said the experience of disability, coupled by current moves by Government to tighten rules on benefits and disability funding, creates enormous pressure. This was exemplified when a prominent figure in the disability committed suicide last year.

Patston is currently working on a music project using lyrics he wrote in the early 1990s which address mental health issues. He also works in schools and community promoting new thinking around diversity, including mental health, to promote concepts of uniqueness as opposed to illness and disability.

People can support the Diversitymo team's fundraising attempt by visiting the Movember website.

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