The diagnosis gives it a name, but it is the story that gives us understanding.Something is off in the way we talk about mental health today. We’ve become more open, more aware, more willing to speak, but somewhere along the way, we’ve started to lose our balance. Feelings once recognised as part of everyday life, sadness, worry, grief, and anger are now often seen as signs that something is wrong with us. On the Edge is not a self-help book, it doesn’t promise to change your life or offer a five-step plan to feel better. Instead, it provides something more vital: a way to make sense of what we are feeling, and why it matters. With rare honesty and lived experience, Barry Ingleton explores what happens when emotional pain is mistaken for mental illness and how that confusion impacts all of us: those who are struggling, those who care for others, and even those who believe mental health has little to do with their lives. This book is for anyone who has ever felt overwhelmed but unsure what to call it, for those stuck in the in-between, not quite ill, but far from okay and for professionals and leaders who sense that something about our current approach to mental health awareness is no longer working. But more than that, On the Edge is written to help reshape the broader conversation. It builds on the progress of the last 40 years, taking awareness one step further and toward a deeper understanding of the human condition and the emotional complexity that comes with simply being alive. |
Rethinking Mental Health TogetherJoin us in Rethinking Mental Health Together, #RMHT
On The Edge is more than a book published by Synolos Publications; it is the beginning of a national movement to rethink how we talk about mental health. We are calling for a new kind of awareness, one that recognises the difference between everyday emotions that you experience and clinical mental illness. Our goal is to create a Distinction Awareness Programme and campaign for an amendment to the Mental Health Act that acknowledges this difference, ensuring that only trained professionals can determine when one crosses into the other. For more than thirty years, mental health awareness campaigns have encouraged people to open up, a vital and positive step. Yet Barry Ingleton and Synolos have been raising concerns since 2019 that, over time, the language of awareness has begun to blur the line between natural human emotions and diagnosed mental illness. This growing confusion now reaches into every corner of our communities, creating what they call a mental health confusion that affects how we see ourselves and each other. Today, phrases like “I’m struggling with my mental health” are used so widely that we’ve lost sight of what they really mean. Are we describing a hard day, or an illness that requires professional care? This confusion has real consequences. It increases pressure on the NHS, encourages self-diagnosis, especially in young people through social media, and unintentionally dilutes the support and protection for those living with serious, often life-threatening, mental illness. The On The Edge campaign calls for a national movement to restore balance, understanding, and compassion to how we speak about mental health through awareness, education, and, if momentum is strong enough, policy reform with support from MPs and mental health leadership. Our Call for Change We are asking leaders, professionals, and the public to unite behind three goals: 1. Amend the Mental Health Act To ensure it clearly states that there is a recognised difference between natural human emotions and diagnosed mental health illnesses, and that only trained professionals can determine when one crosses into the other. We are not asking politicians to define where that line lies, only to acknowledge that it exists. This simple but vital clarification will protect those in need, reduce confusion in society, and help restore integrity and trust in the meaning of mental health. 2. Create a National Distinction Awareness Programme To help schools, workplaces, and communities understand the difference between natural emotions and mental illness. 3. Renew the National Dialogue To encourage people to speak openly without medicalising every feeling and to communicate the dangers of self-diagnosis to individuals, the NHS, and society. This is not about silencing anyone, in fact its the opposite. Not every emotion is an illness, but every emotion deserves to be heard and that is where we should do it. This campaign is about giving everyone the right kind of support at the right time, restoring clarity, compassion, and confidence to our national conversation on mental health. About the Book, the Author, and the Campaign This campaign is led by Barry Ingleton, author of On The Edge: Rethinking Mental Health Awareness and Rediscovering What It Means to Be Human. Barry is the CEO and founder of Synolos CIC, a community organisation based in Witney that supports education, training, special educational needs, and wellbeing. Living with Bipolar, Barry has spent more than twenty years working in education and mental health, helping young people and adults find purpose and confidence through learning, care, and honest conversation. His lived experience has shaped his belief that the current language of mental health needs urgent reform, not to silence people, but to give real meaning and value to both emotional and clinical experiences. On The Edge is the foundation of this movement, and the campaign it inspired seeks to protect those living with serious mental illness while giving everyone the confidence to express emotion without fear of being labelled or judged because of a lack of label. |
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