West London News
'You are not alone': From 'death sentence' diagnosis to pillar of support for others, this is the remarkable story of just one mental health ambassador
Thirteen years ago, Shea Wong was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and describes how at the time she saw it as "fatal"
Lois Swinnerton
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Shea Wong was diagnosed with bipolar disorder 13-years-ago.
In her darkest hour, she firmly believe it would kill her.
Speaking to getwestlondon ahead of World Mental Health Day (October 10), Shea said her mental health illness felt like a "death sentence".
The 41-year-old from Ravescourt Park also explained how a lack of social media at the time made it hard for her to find like-minded people and support.
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"I saw bipolar disorder as an absolute death sentence" she said.
"I said 'this is fatal, I'm going to die of this' and I said that because I didn't understand what this illness meant because I didn't understand where I could even go for help.
"I was afraid to tell anyone."
Shea Wong now provides support for others (Image: Lois Swinnerton)
Shea said she believes there is a huge amount of self stigma surrounding mental health and says her healing began once she was able to get over that.
"That was one of the biggest issues that I had, the self stigma of being ashamed of an illness that I had nothing to do with, that I had no control over," she said.
"So when I was finally able to get over that self stigma through education and through fighting my own ignorance, that's when I became an advocate for others."
"It's very difficult to find local face-to-face support"
Finding support and other like-minded people proved difficult for Shea during her journey with a mental health illness and she says access to local support is still an issue.
"While we can now get online and find support for everything in the virtual world, it's very difficult to find that face-to-face interaction local support, that's something that we still fight with to this day," she said.
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"But at least I had online support and at least I was able to make peace with my illness and understand that while my illness was chronic, it was not fatal, I didn't have to die from it."
"Understand you are not alone"
Mother-of-one Shea is now an ambassador for mental health campaign Time To Change where she uses her experience to provide advice and support for others.
"One of the biggest things, if you are going through a diagnoses of a mental health issue, understand that you are not alone," she said.
Shea was diagnosed with bipolar disorder 13 years ago
"You can always come to a group like Mind or Rethink or Time To Change and say 'look I'm new to this process and I am scared' and there will be someone who is either going through it at the exact same moment, has just gone through it and will be willing to help you, or may think that they are going through it as well and they are going to look to you as almost a source of inspiration because you've spoke out."
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You can find support on mental health by heading the Mind , Rethink or Time To Change websites.
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