"I'm well because I'm able to connect" - David's story

David Corduff first experienced depression and anxiety in his thirties. Decades later, he’s grown to understand how important feeling connected to others is.

“I didn’t deliberately set out to withdraw into myself when I first became ill, but it manifested that way. Even today, there’s still stigma associated with mental illness, and back in the 1980s it definitely wasn’t something people spoke openly about.

“I was embarrassed and thought what I was feeling was a sign of weakness. Not only did I not want anyone outside my immediate family to know what I was living with, I was telling myself I was a failure, and that perpetuated the lack of connection to other people.

“My thinking was that my self-esteem was already shot, so why would I risk battering it further by sharing what I thought was a weakness with other people? Plus, I felt like I didn’t deserve to have friends and that people wouldn’t want to spend time with me anyway.”