If you’re living with a severe mental illness in today’s Scotland, your average life expectancy is 15 to 20 years shorter than other people's.

Suicide accounts for only 5% of these tragic premature deaths. And for every death, there is a further hidden iceberg of misery. Families and carers suffer too.

Most people don’t know these statistics – perhaps we would rather not know.

But we need to face up to this mental health emergency as only then can we start to recover.

We’re using the lead-up to next year’s Scottish Election to go public with our concerns. This week we launched our manifesto, a passionate plea to politicians and voters at this time of both crisis and opportunity.

We gathered contributions from a remarkable number of our 1,500 colleagues – this is the authentic voice of our College.

We’re not a trade union but a........

© Herald Scotland