Mental Health Awareness Week – 15: #IAmStigmaFree

Laura Whitehouse of Mental Health Systems said, “Today is about trying to reduce the stigma of mental illness and making sure people understand, you know, mental illness is okay”.

“It has been an ongoing journey of recovery”.

The art gallery is a collective space for artists who are battling mental illness issues.

The inaugural Moving to Wellness fun run was held at the Mooloolaba Esplanade yesterday morning to kick off the Coast’s Mental Health Week activities.

Our campaign focuses on raising awareness of the stigma experienced by people living with more serious mental illness, and Support in Mind Scotland has chosen the title “1 Indiana 100” to reflect the one person in 100 who will experience psychosis at a few point in their lives.

Dr George Wilson, the lead author of the report, said there needed to be greater integration with mental health services.

“Big Ideas Big Night Out is a night of celebration”, he said.

Because the symptoms of mental illnesses often are exhibited in behaviors, the diseases may be misunderstood.

The event will kick off at 5:30pm this Thursday.

NHS Shetland is also encouraging people to perform random acts of kindness to others during the week to give people a boost – however small the act may be.

“We need to get something meaningful passed this year”, said Honberg, whose group also cosigned the letter.

“Research from as far back as 2010 found that we spend less than half of England’s per capita spend on supporting people with mental health problems and learning disabilities”.

One in five adults in the United States, approximately 43.7 million, experiences mental illness in a given year. There are those who have developmental disabilities, such as Down syndrome, and those who deal with mental illnesses such as schizophrenia.

“We are hoping to show that mental illnesses isn’t so abnormal”, Kovacs said. This principle will play out eventually into better services – not just in health care but in education, housing, family support and the justice system.

The 32-year-old musician-turned-yoga teacher has organised a free event as a part of the Mental Health Awareness Week called WANA Festival (We Are Not Alone) in Auckland. This includes Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), as well as depression, anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, or other mental illness. Don’t deem them weak or damaged, for they need your support. Taking a rights-based approach to tackling injustice and exclusion is now embedded in our national policy – embedding it in our national psyche is the huge step we have yet to take.

For instance, in Zimbabwe, the Friendship Bench project offers brief problem-solving therapy sessions delivered by lay health workers employed by the local municipal government on a bench on the grounds of a clinic – a simple concept that has symbolically created a more open and a welcome space for community members to come forth with their concerns.

“This will help me do my job day-to-day”, Blanchard said.