In recent times awareness for mental health has been increasing but is it still enough?The answer is an obvious “no”. Mental health still needs a lot of attention from around the world. Mental health plays a paramount role in one’s life. There is a quote by John Green “There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t.”
Mental health can affect a person to an extent that we sometimes can’t imagine. Stigma that is still associated with mental health impacts people negatively. According to WHO Mental, neurological and substance use disorders account for more than 10% of the global disease burden.
There are many mental health initiatives taking place around the world to bring out positive changes in society.Some of the initiatives that are bringing remarkable changes are :
WHO Special Initiative for Mental Health (most popular mental health initiative)
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One of the most popular mental health initiative Launched in 2019 with Bangladesh, Jordan, Paraguay, the Philippines, Ukraine, and Zimbabwe as early adopters. Argentina, Ghana and Nepal have become part of WHOs Special Initiative for Mental Health. aiming to ensure access to mental health services for 100 million more people across WHOs six regions. Initiative aims at developing and improving mental health policy and services around the different regions.
Time to change :
Time to Change, a mental health initiative was formed in 2007, England by Charities Mind and Rethink Mental illness. The objective of the initiative was to reduce the stigma and discrimination attached with mental health. Over the course of their campaign, they have worked with 7,500 champions with mental health problems, 1500 employers and 3,500 secondary schools, colleges and youth sector organisations. Since they started, 5.4 million people’s attitudes to mental health have improved.
The initiative has worked upon different populations – wor places, children and young people, communities and has led various campaigns. Their more specific goal was to reduce stigma and discrimination by 5 percent in the first 12 months. An academic study was carried out to measure whether TTC had met their 5 per cent target in the first 12 months. The study measured “progress toward meeting TTC’s target of a 5 per cent reduction in discrimination”
An independent evaluation of the campaign’s first four years took place in 2013. Though it found a reduction in discrimination from friends and families, change in attitudes from health professionals was negligible
Time to Change closed on 31 March 2021, having lost its sources of funding
To know more about the initiative, read : https://www.time-to-change.org.uk/about-us/what-we-did
Live, Love, Laugh(LLL) Foundation:
LLL foundation is a non profit organisation founded in 2015 by Indian Actress Deepika Padukone who had gone through depression.
This is how she described her illness.
“What I was experiencing was this hollow, empty feeling in my stomach. I would break into a sweat. I would suddenly get into these panic phases where I felt I needed to get out and gasp for breath. And I would just cry – out of nowhere, break down and cry.”
“The toughest part in the journey for me was not understanding what I was feeling or experiencing. Not being able to explain to people what it was. The diagnosis itself felt like The foundation spreads awareness and changes the way people look at mental health in general. It provides a platform that enables people who are seeking help to learn more information and connect with mental health professionals. People are able to share and hear others’ stories of their own experiences with mental healtha massive relief.”
One of the school programs which was initiated in 2016 by LLF is YANA; You Are Not Alone. Its objective is to create awareness on stress, anxiety and depression amongst adolescents, teachers and parents.
To read more about LLL foundation , click
https://www.thelivelovelaughfoundation.org/
686 Program:
China has shown a strong commitment to mental health reform. In December 2004, the national ‘686 Programme’, named after the initial funding allocation of 6.86 million yuan (Chinese currency; equivalent to US$1 million today), also called ‘Central Government Support for the Local Management and Treatment of Serious Mental Illness Project’, was initiated to integrate hospital and community services 2012. Then on 1 May 2013, China’s ‘Mental Health Law’ went into effect 2012, the first-ever national law on mental health and a landmark policy for protecting patient rights and improving mental health services. In 2015, the National Mental Health Working Plan (2015–2020) proposed an ambitious strategy for implementing this project
Activities :
- Mental health institutions have been connected to the communities with the help of public health services.
- Care and help groups have been formed
- Training and education has been provided at different levels :community doctors, personnel of disease prevention and control, community leaders, community police, civil affairs as well as members from the disabled person’s federation and patient’s family.
Some of the results of 686 program:
Between the programme launch in 2004 and December 31st, 2014, the number of patients with SMD who were registered in the community service archive was 4.297 million, and 3.146 million patients participated in community follow-up visits
The Mental Health Network Switzerland
The national mental health initiative aims at spreading awareness about mental health and mitigating mental health problems and its negative impacts on the people. One of the objective pf the initiative is to also prevent suicide. It is a non-profit organisation started in 2015 carried by the Federation, the Canyons, and Health Promotion Switzerland. an association of more than 400 organisations, institutions, and enterprises who get involved with mental health in Switzerland
It provides a platform for the actors and the steps they take in the field of mental health to make the world a better place to live in.
The Black Dog Institute
It was founded in 2002 by the UNSW School of Psychiatry Scientia Professor Gordon Parker and based in sydney, australia.
The institute provides facilities for diagnosis,treatment and prevention of various mental health disorders. Men’s healthy study was launched by Black Dog institute in 2014 with the objective of identifying ways to prevent male suicides and developing mental health tools designed specifically for men.
Man Central, an online program by Black Dog Institute helps men identify early signs of depression and provides how to deal with it effectively. The institute also learns aNational Emergency worker support service for FireFighters, Police, State Emergency Services, Paramedics, Forest Fire Management, Animal Rescue, Marine Rescue, all other Emergency Service Workers, volunteers, and those retired.
To read more, click
Bell Let’s Talk
To promote mental health awareness and to put an end to the stigma of mental illness the canadian telecommunication company BELL CANADA launched a campaign in 2010. Four main pillars on which Bell Let’s Talk stands are Anti-stigma, care and access, Research and workplace Leadership. Bell Let’s Talk has committed more than $139 million to Canadian mental health initiatives.
Awareness regarding mental health is increasing but still there is a lot more to do in this field to make the world a better place to live in. If a person is mentally healthy, a lot of problems can be solved in this world.
“Leaves fall, worries fall too. New leaves grow, new worries grow too. What do you do?You battle with it, fight against it and most importantly you learn from it.This is the process. Leaves will grow, will fall, will get crushed, will be diminished and new leaves will grow again. Your worries will rise too, you will fight with it, learn from it and eventually your worries may make you less worried. But is it the end ? It goes on.” – surabhi
Photo credit: surabhi (myself)
Also read :
What are the most popular mental health initiative for mental health?
Live, love, Laugh foundation
Time to change
Bells Let’s talk
686 Program, china
