Editorial: Stigma-Busting Banana Splits

STIGMA-BUSTING BANANA SPLITS

09/27/12

There’s not much a little ice cream can’t help, and if it can put a dent in the stigma attached to mental illness we say go for it.

This Sunday, Journey Mental Health here in Madison is holding a community conversation about living with mental illness. It’s the “We’re Not Bananas Ice Cream Social” on Proudfit Street and it features mini banana splits, beverages and music and it’s all free. But the real draw is a dialogue with mental health consumers and their families and friends. For all of the efforts at insurance parity, treatment options, medication advances and more, nothing is more important than ending the stigma attached to mental illness. As consumer Jessica put it, “Just because I have a mental illness does not make me bananas. I’m a person, not a diagnosis.”

We’ll dip a spoon to that.