Richard Monaghan, 62, has been sharing the story of his own difficulties with depression with people all over the region, in the streets, outside supermarkets and even in a famous toffee shop.
Working with See Me, the national programme to end mental health discrimination, Mr Monaghan had over 1000 conversations about mental health, and handed out 1000 badges last week.
But not content to just change the minds of the people he meets, he asks people to share his message — using the badge to do it.
The idea is for people to wear the badge for a day and then pass it on to someone else to wear for the next 24 hours.
When people pass it on they share two facts — that one in four people will experience some form of mental illness in their lifetime and, of those who do, nine out of ten report experiencing stigma and discrimination.
Over the weekend, Richard, along with staff and volunteers from See Me, handed out 1000 badges in Dumfries and Moffat.
Rebekah Moore runs the See Me Community Champions programme, and she said: “Since training as a champion Richard has been making a massive impact in his local community.
“He has seen attitudes shift due to his honest, open and simple approach to tackling stigma — getting people to talk. “We are very proud to have him as one of our champions; he is truly an inspiration to us all.”
