The platitudes may sound right, the stories of NRL stars and celebrities being applauded for talking about their bouts with mental health issues may be splashed across the newspapers and talked about on TV, but when it comes down to it, those with mental health issues are still forced in many cases to deal with it behind closed doors.

When Ian Thorpe decided to return to Switzerland this week rather than stay with family and friends after his mental health was questioned, it highlighted how far we still have to go as a society to understand that a mental health problem should be accepted  as a health issue in the same way as we would accept it if Thorpie had broken his arm.

Thorpe revealed in his autobiography his battle with depression saying; 

"I did it behind closed doors, where many depressed people choose to fight their demons before they realise they can’t do it without help."

But still the media went into a frenzy when it seemed the swim star was once again having to deal with the dreaded black dog.

No wonder he wants to leave to go to a place where mental health is not considered something of which to be ashamed.

However, a new global social media campaign is trying to lift the veil of secrecy and embarrassment for those dealing with mental health issues.

It’s this shame and secrecy that Erin Casey wants to eradicate and if the response to her Facebook campaign The Purple Project is anything to go by, she is already starting to break down that proverbial door.

On January 29, 2014, Casey and friend and fellow advocate Lizzie Elsberg started a campaign on Facebook called The Purple Project. It is affiliated with Casey’s own website for mental health awareness and education called Where I Stand which she began in 2012 after leaving treatment for an eating disorder.

Just 48 hours after the Facebook campaign started, more than 1000 people worldwide had posted their own purple prose on the site explaining why they’re publicising their own brushes with mental health and another 7000 had supported the project including my own 11-year-old son.

And the numbers kept growing.

“Once people realise it is OK to talk about their own issues they want to do it abundantly and that is what we are seeing on the Purple Project,” Casey says.

“This [the Purple Project] is bigger than we anticipated.  What is so powerful is the awareness. From the privacy of their own homes people can talk about their problems and see they are not alone.  There so much secrecy and shame when it comes to mental health.”

It’s not just those battling a mental illness who are posting Purple Project posts. Boyfriends, mothers, fathers, brothers and friends have donned a piece of purple clothing and explained in a brief post why they support the campaign and their willingness to step out of the shadows of the mental health cloud.

Ella Graham, the convenor and founder of the campaign, FedUp, which aims to promote awareness and education about mental health issues in Australia, was one of the first Australian contributors to the Purple Project site.

She says the Purple Project offers people the opportunity to see a more positive side to their illness

"It is a nice way to connect the community. On FedUp we do a lot of work in sharing negative experiences of treatment and the Purple Project shows there is a positive aspect - it is an invigorating thing for the FedUp community," she says.

"Like Fed Up, Purple Project shows there are other people going through similar experiences, and when you are seeking support online, and gathering information, it helps to have faces behind the words - to see there are others that have this commonality and they come from all works of life and  different backgrounds."

The Purple Project is only one of the causes Where I Stand has supported. The not-for-profit organisation has been active in the US in many areas of mental health and is now advocating and lobbying the US government to include mental health education in the public school curriculum from kindergarten to Year 12.

“When I started Where I Stand in 2012, I had just left treatment and I was struggling to adjust but at the same time was enthused with a passion that there needed to be more done on the preventative side [of mental health],” Casey says.

“I felt like the way the US and other countries approached mental health was a crisis-based way – dealing with those who are struggling only when the problem arises.

“In approaching it that way we are never going to get better as a society, never make any improvement.”

 The organisation now boasts its own roster of guest bloggers, events and awareness programs that are available for everyone from five to 105 years old.

“Our main aim at Where I Stand, and the Purple Project, is to agitate for change. Our biggest effort is in awareness and education and we are trying to equip people with tools to advocate for themselves in a health system that is like a minefield,” Casey says.

“Another thing we are advocating is for the government to develop a curriculum that includes mental health and teaches kids about how to recognise mental health, find treatment and access it.

"Mental health education needs to start from day one and we need to teach kids that it is no different to physical health. If someone is sick they go to a doctor and get treated and it is no big deal, but if someone has depression they don’t go to the doctor because they have feeling of shame and they’re worried about not being taken seriously.

“The brain is an organ and it needs to be treated as such and that needs to be acknowledged. We want kids to understand that physical and mental health are not separate.”

Keeli Cambourne is an Illawarra Mercury columnist