“Let us work with you because together we can make a difference,” said a mental health service user who, together with other users, shared her experience of fighting mental health conditions during World Health Mental Day yesterday.

To mark this occasion as well as to promote and strengthen the involvement of people with mental health problems in society, a press conference and a seminar were given yesterday.

“Isolation, loneliness, feeling useless and detached from society were very common feelings during her episode of mental health problems. After seeking help and coming out of her condition, she is now conducting self-help group meetings and helping others facing problems she had faced before within the Richmond Foundation.

“This work has helped me feel included, useful and needed but many are still suffering quietly due to stigma,” she added.

Also speaking during the seminar was a mother of two children who focused on the need for people suffering with mental health conditions to have opportunities.

Obsessive thoughts were recurrent since childhood for the mother, who recalled washing her hands repeatedly until blood would come out. At adolescence, she often found herself thinking how better it would have been if she was not born and where she would have been if she was not born.

Things only got worse in marriage and after having her children, when she often found herself thinking that she could not properly care for them.

After hearing a person speaking on the matter on a television programme, she sought help. She explained that this was not always easily accessible and at times very expensive but things got better when she embarked on voluntary work at the Richmond Foundation, which helped to raise her self-esteem.