It’s mental health awareness week again, and my Linkedin and Instagram feeds are filled with the advertising industry making all the right noises. But it’s still vanishingly rare to hear a successful, current leader or riser being open about the fact that they experience mental illness. It’s still a taboo.

I know this because of the way people respond to me when I mention my anti-depressants or my therapist. The spectrum runs from a tiny, quickly hidden beat of, “ok – noted” to a, “you’re so brave, I love that you talk about that”. People are kind, decent, polite -  but they are ruffled, and that’s because when the conversation goes beyond wellbeing, sleep, exercise and switching off your emails now and again, we still don’t really like to talk about it.

It still feels risky to put it out there. What about that big job I might want to go for in a few years? What if they google me? What if they think I’ll need “too much”? That I’ll need an ill-defined “something” it will cause them a problem to give?

Only if more leaders are open about their mental health, including their treatment status, will we start normalising it and making it feel safe. Leaders who are currently attending therapy or recovery, people who are currently taking anti-anxieties or anti-depressants and who are also currently smashing it, being competent, diligent and consistent as the next person. Because there are lots of us out there doing just that, and when we stay in the closet we help keep other people scared, and that helps keep them stuck.

I waited far longer than I should have to accept I might be better off on SSRIs. What held me back? I was worried about the impact of antidepressants on creativity, which is my livelihood. I was worried about losing some kind of “edge” off my brain, or my personality.  Looking back with clearer eyes, it was just more of the same self-sabotaging reasoning my “anxiety voice” used to pump into my mind on a 24-hour radio loop. Three days on Sertraline was all it took to shut down Psychobitch FM. My laser-efficient, horrifically observant nasty inner voice was gone. It felt miraculous. Like some heavenly hand had somehow been able to reach inside and turn the volume all the way down. The tightness in my throat and chest was gone. The intrusive, circular ruminations about tiny, stupid things I had done more than ten years ago was gone. But I was still here. And so were all the ideas. Just like before.

That was three years ago and since then nothing but good things have happened, career-wise. I haven’t become “less” of myself in any way. I’m just no longer in pain, and that’s why I’m coming out as crazy: To tell anyone out there who might be letting the career path they want become a barrier to being well: it’s not a thing. Trust me.

I am certain there are loads of super successful people whose careers I admire who are on SSRIs, anti-anxieties, anti-psychotics... they just aren’t talking about it. They should collectively say fuck the stigma and come out of the closet. Because if they did, lots of people would not spend as long as I did hesitating over accessing treatment that could make their lives so much better.

I’d like to rebrand Mental Health Awareness Week as Crazy Pride Week instead. I know that will upset some people. “Crazy” is a word that used to really hurt me but now it doesn’t. Because the truth is, I know I am saner and happier than many (maybe even most) of the “non-crazy” people around me. Alain de Botton says a first-date question for everybody should be: “In what way are you crazy?” the idea being that, since everyone is, the best start point is to look for someone who's crazy best coexists with yours. Maybe we should start asking it in interviews and chemistry meetings.

If you’ve confronted your crazy – if you’ve walked the walk of learning about, managing, dealing with and optimising your crazy, then you have achieved a measure of honesty, insight, tenacity and empathy that will make you better at what you do. A better writer, a better art director, a better manager, and a better human. So let’s talk about it, and take a bit of pride. Because the truth is, we’ve got plenty to be proud of.