World Mental Health Day is celebrated on the 10th of October every year. The objective of the day is to raise the awareness of mental health issues and to help individuals who suffer to know that it is okay to get the help that they need.
This year, the aim is to bring attention to the issues our youth and young adults are facing in our world today and to begin the conversation around what they need in order to grow up healthy, happy and resilient.
The World Health Organisation explained: “Adolescence and the early years of adulthood are a time of life when many changes occur, for example changing schools, leaving home, and starting university or a new job. For many, these are exciting times. However, they can also be times of stress and apprehension.”
You can play your part by wearing a green ribbon to show your support. There are a few extra steps which you can follow to get involved:
1. Understand challenges faced by individuals who suffer from mental health:
Suffering from a mental illness is not easy and the mind is a very complex organ. There are many different opinions on what people should do and the best thing to start with is to learn some of these facts. You can do this by looking at the following documents:
• Read the 2017 World Mental Health Day report
• World federation for mental health documents
• WHO also offers great resources
2. Become active in your community:
By being vocal about mental health in your community, you are able to accomplish a lot. There needs to be a break in the circle around the social stigma of talking about mental health. This can only be done if individuals stand up, use their knowledge and reach out to people in the community.
3. Amplify your voice on social media:
The reach which an individual can obtain via social media is tremendous. It is a great way to connect and join global mental health communities and raise awareness. You can start by joining the WFMH communities on Twitter and Facebook. Use hashtags like #worldmentalhealthday and #mentalhealth when posting on social media and remember to check the tags to find more relevant people, organisations and resources.
There are many other ways which you can get involved and help spread the awareness of mental health issues, but we hope that our few steps will help you at least start by supporting in any way or form. This can go a long way when it comes to creating awareness around this sensitive issue.
References:
World Mental Health Day 2018
World Mental Health Day 2018: Everything you need to know
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