Ruby Wax to keynote BritMums Live! and hold Q&A

BritMums is pleased to announce that comedian and author Ruby Wax is going to keynote at BritMums Live! Ruby will draw on her experience of coming to terms with depression and starting her new charity: Black Dog Tribe.

Here’s some background on her experience:

Ever felt down and had no one talk to? We all get depressed sometimes,but for most of us those negative feelings disappear often as quickly as they came. There are however millions of people in the UK  – the number is approximately one in four of us – for whom a few cheery words and a cup of tea make little difference. These are the people with longer-term mental health issues – people who can’t get up in the morning, who may feel that life has nothing to offer them and know all too well feelings of deep despair. Well if that sounds like you, or someone you know, take a look at a new website, Black Dog Tribe, where you can find help, friendship and whole lot more. Think of it as a social site for people will metal health issues. Somewhere where people can talk to others, share their views and read how others are coping with their condition.

The site is the brainchild of comedian and writer Ruby Wax. Four years ago she suffered what she describes as the ‘tsunami of all depressions’ where she had to be institutionalized and couldn’t leave a chair for five months. When she came through her depression she decided to do something positive and wrote a show called ‘Losing It’ that took a sideways, and rather unique look at mental health issues.

The reaction of the audience to the show convinced Ruby that people needed a place online where they could go and share their experiences of the Black Dog (as Winston Churchill famously called depression).

The Tribe concept comes from the idea that most people’s questions about their depression are around very definite themes. So these have been turned into Tribes for people to join. You can see a list of them here.

Ultimately The Black Dog Tribe website is all about removing the stigma that’s associated with mental illness. So many people suffer from it, yet many are too scared to share their experiences for fear of being pigeon-holed, patronised or even bullied.

It is also an opportunity for those of us lucky enough not to have experienced deep depression to show our support by liking the site on Facebook or following the updates on Twitter twitter.com/followBDT.

This week Ruby is available to answer all your questions. They can be about depression, about her experiences, about the show Losing It or anything else at all. Just leave them below, or join the online discussion.