Today is World Mental Health Day. As mental health injustices happen every day in the world around us, we are compelled to take action in order to provide a humane landscape where those who suffer from mental illness and their allies are treated with respect, dignity, and fairness.
Troubling statistics continue to emerge - it has recently been revealed that the leading cause of death for girls 15-19 world wide is suicide. It used to be death by childbirth, and before that infectious disease - now the devastating consequence of untreated mental illness is taking its toll on young women, and many others. Sarah North from the Girls Globe blog is apt in describing mental illness as the chronic disease of the young.
Let's face it: mental illness affects everyone. One in four will have a mental health issue in their lifetime, and 75% are diagnosed before the age of 24. If you don't have one, it is certain that someone in your entourage does.
I would like to echo the necessity of starting a mental health revolution. Youth suffer disproportionately from mental illness, and they also carry with them seeds to spark tremendous change not just in their local communities, but worldwide, as they respond to humanitarian crises and international development efforts.
Individuals and organizations are mobilizing to spark the revolution by sharing their own experiences and those of their loved ones, by speaking at conferences, by becoming ambassadors and leaders at companies, and in their international work. Lian Zeitz from Global Development Incubator, also vocal about his experience with mental illness, says that it's important to define a shared goal. What does mental health look like? What will a revolution look like?
Craig Kramer of Johnson and Johnson reminds us that mental illness is about chemistry - not character - and that it’s important to "normalize it and get the conversation going". He mentions that youth possess skills through social media to make change happen.
Change is beginning to happen at the systemic level: mental health has been included in the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Specifically, goal 3 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) highlights “prevention and treatment of noncommunicable diseases, including behavioural, developmental and neurological disorders, which constitute a major challenge for sustainable development”.
Organizations like mhNOW, which uses the “SDG for mental health to set targets for cities and create a blueprint for systemic change around the world” (Moitreyee Sinha), are emerging to close the mental health gap.
What will it take to close the gap? What is your idea of mental health? What do you think it will take to achieve it?
https://girlsglobe.org/2016/09/22/mental-health-the-health-crisis-of-our-time/
http://www.mhnow.net/
Troubling statistics continue to emerge - it has recently been revealed that the leading cause of death for girls 15-19 world wide is suicide. It used to be death by childbirth, and before that infectious disease - now the devastating consequence of untreated mental illness is taking its toll on young women, and many others. Sarah North from the Girls Globe blog is apt in describing mental illness as the chronic disease of the young.
Let's face it: mental illness affects everyone. One in four will have a mental health issue in their lifetime, and 75% are diagnosed before the age of 24. If you don't have one, it is certain that someone in your entourage does.
I would like to echo the necessity of starting a mental health revolution. Youth suffer disproportionately from mental illness, and they also carry with them seeds to spark tremendous change not just in their local communities, but worldwide, as they respond to humanitarian crises and international development efforts.
Individuals and organizations are mobilizing to spark the revolution by sharing their own experiences and those of their loved ones, by speaking at conferences, by becoming ambassadors and leaders at companies, and in their international work. Lian Zeitz from Global Development Incubator, also vocal about his experience with mental illness, says that it's important to define a shared goal. What does mental health look like? What will a revolution look like?
Craig Kramer of Johnson and Johnson reminds us that mental illness is about chemistry - not character - and that it’s important to "normalize it and get the conversation going". He mentions that youth possess skills through social media to make change happen.
Change is beginning to happen at the systemic level: mental health has been included in the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Specifically, goal 3 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) highlights “prevention and treatment of noncommunicable diseases, including behavioural, developmental and neurological disorders, which constitute a major challenge for sustainable development”.
Organizations like mhNOW, which uses the “SDG for mental health to set targets for cities and create a blueprint for systemic change around the world” (Moitreyee Sinha), are emerging to close the mental health gap.
What will it take to close the gap? What is your idea of mental health? What do you think it will take to achieve it?
https://girlsglobe.org/2016/09/22/mental-health-the-health-crisis-of-our-time/
http://www.mhnow.net/
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