I would like to be under the sea, in an octopus' garden, in the shade

That is offically one of my new favorite songs. It made me laugh so much yesterday.

Anyway, I was helping conduct interviews for CAMHS yesterday, something I did the other week as well, and I enjoy doing, as it feels Im being helpful, and doing something productive. Yesterday, Im not sure exactly what position it was to be perfectly honest, but was some kind of mangament position. There were four people who applied for the place: the first one we saw, it must be said, was the best out of the four in my opinion, and the second came in close (think there was only one points difference on the points sheets) but didn't have the same kind of flare that we all like in the first. The last person who came in to see us was rather brief, and refered to young people as "they", despite the fact there were three perfect specimins sat in front, asking the questions. So they didn't really like him.

However, it was the third person that I really wish to discuss.

Obviously, I am bound by confidentiality etc, but this person actually really upset and offended me, and it is relevent to the point of this.

I will refer to them as person A.

When A came into the room, they poured themself some water, and then sat down. We then began asking A the questions we had prepared previously. A's answers were all incredably brief, and A came across in a very curt and clipped manner. One of the questions refered to personal and professional experience of mental health.

A replied that, obviously, they had not themselves suffered from any mental health concerns, (Obviously? Right ... so, mental health is abnormal?) although of course they did sometimes get stressed and cry.

Another question asked about defining mental health. A started off well, by saying it was a spectrum. But they then messed up big time, by saying that some people JUST had low self-esteem, or JUST had depression.

JUST depression, I wanted to shout? JUST depression? That level of insensitivity I am used in encountering from people every now and again, who are either unaccustomed to mental health, or do not know me. But coming from someone who was applying for a job within the mental helth service, and who would be looking after young people, and should be therefore looking out for them, and at least aware to some degree how hard things are, I thought it was appalling. Depression has affected my life in so many ways.

I felt like A was putting us into boxes, and saying that some people are more ill than others. This is not right. A also seemed to almost pity people suffering from mental health conditions. I was genuinally upset when we were feeding back to the other interving board, and had writen some things down on the back of my score sheet to read out to them. I manage, normally, to say quite detached from these kind of things, as I think only with an objective frame can you aquire the point of view and therefore the results that you need. But listening to what A was saying was rather painful and rather shocking.

It wasn't just me taking it personally either, as we all felt the same when we compared results after A had left the room. Even the member of staff who was in with us, but not saying anything, had been shocked by her manner towards us and towards mental health.

I thought it was important to share this, because I was completly unprepared for this encounter, mainly because of the situation we were in. I think maybe, now, I will be more aware of how judgemental every single person can be, which, in some ways, is rather sad, as I am paranoid enough as it is. The fact that A was applying for the type of job they were, and still managed to maintain such an arrogant and cruel opinion, was very suprising, and very upsetting. It gives "don't judge a book by its cover" a whole new meaning.