Survey results- Is mental health stigma causing problems?

Last week I wrote a blog post called "The stigma around mental health", where i spoke about how this stigma affects peoples emotional well-being. I wanted some local statistics to prove my point that it's happening EVERYWHERE, even on your door step. So I created a survey and I wanted to share the results with you.
After sharing the survey on this blog and posting on Facebook, I got 34 responses! (I really want to thank each and every one of you who filled it out!)
1.Are you male or female?
Out of the 34 people who answered, 8/34 were male and 26/34 were female. Seeing as only a small audience answered we can't really draw a conclusion about a specific gender. However what I can state is that mental health affects everybody, regardless of their gender.
2.Which age range do you fit into?
Under 16 - 3 people
17-19 - 25 people
20-29 - 3 people
30-39 - 1 person
40-49 - 2 people
50 + - 0 people
Again this isn't very reliable as the audience is so small, so i would expect there to be more people my age. However it just proves that mental health can affect anybody of any age. It doesn't depend on lifestyle or your background etc.
3.Do you know someone who's been affected by mental health?
Yes- 34 people 
No- 0 people 
So everybody who answered my survey knows someone who has been/is affected by mental health. This is just how common it really is. It's sad that we can all probably say we know at least one person who suffers from a mental health problem. The harsher reality is that, even if we don't think we do then we probably do but they're just suffering alone.
4.Have you, yourself been affected by mental health problems?
Yes- 26 people
No- 7 people
This may not seem like a big number, but that's 78.79% of people who answered my survey. That's a lot of people and it proves my point that a lot of people do suffer.
5.Do you think the stigma of mental health has affected you negatively? (Out of 10. 1 being not a lot, 10 being a lot)
5 and under- 8
6 and over- 18
Those 8 people have really encouraged me that either society is changing or it's not affecting everybody. This is such good news and I'm very happy for the people it doesn't affect :)
However there are still 18 people (Obviously more haha, but I mean from my survey) who are being affected by it and until those 18 people feel that it no longer affects them, we have some changing in society to do.
6. Who did you receive the most support from with coping with your mental health problem/s?
Friends- 15 people
Family- 15 people
Health professional, e.g a GP- 6 people
School/College/University- 1 person
Charity- 1 person 
Other (Please specify) - 4 people (counselor, boyfriend, journal and themselves)
It was really good to see that people have at least one person to turn to when times get tough. No matter how strong we may think we are, everybody needs support as their strength can only go so far. However I found it discouraging how people are receiving more informal support than formal support. This could be down to various reasons, but one of the biggest is there not being enough resources. Whether this be funding, staff or even enough promotion it's not helping peoples lives when they desperately need the help.
7.Do you have any comments, questions or concerned?
A few people did leave some comments and I'd really like to share them with you as I found them encouraging and interesting and you may do too.

"I totally agree with you, mental health is just as important as physical health. And it is also ridiculous that some schools don't offer enough support to those people for example - Beauchamp college (where I currently attend) only has one counselor for the whole school which is around 2000 students."

"Personally, I feel like a lot of the stigma (at least in my case) is self-imposed. I feel "wrong" or "bad" for feeling this way which makes me feel like I can't be part of society and I put too much pressure on myself to be "normal". The more I've spoken to others the more I realize how common issues like depression and anxiety actually are which helps me feel slightly less nonfunctional" 

" Friends are one of the most powerful remedies for mental health issues in my opinion and I think the message that people need to be more supportive of each other should be put across to people ( sorry if I wrote too much ) "

" People are not realizing the severity of mental health and depression. It's an everyday battle, not just a one time thing."

" Question 6 I would say family, friends, God (I'm a Christian) and some close work colleagues too.

I took a long time to read each individual survey response and I noticed there was one or two responses which said they haven't told anybody about their current state and this alarmed me as speaking to people about it is really important in order to recover and get the help you need. So if this was you/you don't talk to someone then feel free to send me a message and I will happily talk to you and offer advice where I can. Alternatively, If you don't want to talk to me about it then please please talk to someone else, maybe a friend, close family member or your GP.

I really hope this post has shown you the reality of how close to home mental health is. I also hope that as a team we can all do our part to ensure that mental health is made more aware and more people get the help they need to help them recover. As always, If I have said anything out of place or you just want to have a chat about anything mentioned, then please comment or send me an email on 09clavin@gmail.com .
                                                                         Charlie :)