It appears that many mental health service groups, all over the world, have dedicated a day, a week or even the entire month of October to promote various aspects of mental health awareness. Here is an example of just some of them:
- World Mental Health Day
- International Stuttering Awareness Day
- National Depression Screening Day
- Mental Illness Awareness Week
- Mental Health Awareness Week
- Autism Awareness Month
- National Down Syndrome Awareness Month
- National Brain Injury Awareness Month
- Anti-Depressant Death Awareness Month
Due to the obvious importance of addressing the growing number of mental health issues all over the world; this is not surprising.
Some of the major mental health service organizations that have helped bring the importance of mental health to our attention are:
- World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH)
- World Health Organization (WHO)
- National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
World Federation for Mental Health
According to the World Federation for Mental Health, October 10th is Mental Health Day, also called Blue Day and is celebrated in 100 countries. It considers itself a grassroots advocacy and public education organization in mental health world-wide.
Click on the links provided, if you would like to read more about the World Mental Health Day Project – A Global Mental Health Education Campaign of the World Federation for Mental Health.
Blue Day
The Harvard School of Medicine explains The World Mental Health Survey Initiative (under WHO) as an intensive population study on mental health. The study consisted of a number of surveys from which accurate information could be gathered to determine the number of individuals with psychological disorders; and what was and wasn’t working to assist those who needed help.
This study was important because it was conducted on a world-wide basis, taking into consideration cross-cultural issues as well as statistical data.
WHO (sorry, couldn’t resist) wants more mental health information? Go to the World Health Organization website.
National Alliance on Mental Illness
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, they are the United State’s largest grassroots organization in support of persons with mental illness and their families.
“NAMI is dedicated to the eradication of mental illnesses and to the improvement of the quality of life for persons of all ages who are affected by mental illnesses.” - NAMI
The Whole Package
The World Health Organization defines health as: “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
Let us seek to achieve the whole mind, body, spirit package.
Visit our Resource Articles page for more articles and information about physical, social, spiritual as well as mental health services and resources.
Related posts:
4 responses so far ↓
1 Mental Health Awareness Month « Lil Focus’s Weblog // Oct 25, 2008 at 10:09 pm
[...] clipped from mindvisualization.com [...]
2 October for Mental Health Services « Lil Focus’s Weblog // Oct 31, 2008 at 7:00 pm
[...] clipped from mindvisualization.com [...]
3 Ron Towns // Nov 7, 2008 at 6:51 pm
Mental fitness can help reduce your chances of forming negative habits (which may lead to diseases such as alzheimer’s)! Check out this website for more details: http://www.thevisionboardkit.com.
4 Lilly // Nov 9, 2008 at 9:38 am
Interesting Ron,
A sad coincidence but I was just (within the last hour) talking to my sister about a close relative and how her severity with Alzheimers is now preventing her from eating because she can’t remember how to swallow.
Leave a Comment