The importance of openness around mental health was underlined by writer and communicator Alastair Campbell in his lecture last Friday, ‘We All Have Mental Health’.

The University’s Mental Health Champion Dr David Duncan introduced Campbell to a packed audience of students and staff in the Sir Charles Wilson Lecture Theatre. The lecture covered Alastair’s own struggles with mental health as well as those of his brother Donald, the late University Piper.

Campbell praised the University as a “superb employer” who saw Donald “not as a schizophrenic, but as a valued member of the University community who had schizophrenia”. He emphasised the importance of breaking down the stigma surrounding mental health, and ensuring that treatment for mental health difficulties is as accessible and well-researched as treatment for physical ailments.

Following the lecture, a portrait of Donald Campbell leading an academic procession was unveiled to the sound of bagpipes played by Alastair himself.

Campbell is part of the Time to Change movement, working to change how people think and act about mental health.

Alastair Campbell

Below: Alastair Campbell piping at the unveiling of the portrait of his late brother Donald, for many years the UofG piper.

Image of Alastair Campbell playing the pipes at the unveiling of a portrait of his late brother Donald

First published: 9 October 2017

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