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Is Mental Health Week effective?

NikNikSenior Contributor07 Oct 2016, 12:02 pm AEDT

Is Mental Health Week effective?

Mental Health Week this year runs from Sunday 9 Oct - Saturday 15 Oct.

The aim of the week is to raise awareness and reduce stigma of mental health.

I often wonder if the "general public" are aware that it's Mental Health Week, it seems to get a lot of air time, but am I only noticing because of my involvement with the mental health sector..

I'm keen to hear from you -

Do you think it's effective?

If you could change one misconception about mental illness, what would it be?

If you missed out on our Smashing Stigma webinar featuring SANE Australia speakers, you can find it here. You can also watch Dov's inspiring story and hope for greater awareness about mental illness below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izxIVEjrbVQ

47 replies

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In response to: Is Mental Health Week effective?

QueenieSenior Contributor09 Oct 2016, 4:05 pm AEDT

Re: Is Mental Health Week effective?

I'm a cit cynical too @Former-Member. But I have to remember small steps for awareness. My Dad actually sat down and watched Changing Minds last year, so that's a start. He'd be the last person to sit down and watch it as for him denial is more than a river in Egypt. If I can get just one more family member to watch a program during mental health week and start asking questions, then it's been a success in my book.

In response to: Is Mental Health Week effective?

utopiaSenior Contributor09 Oct 2016, 4:29 pm AEDT

Re: Is Mental Health Week effective?

@Former-Member. I feel you may be right. But I'm determined to stay positive and hope that a few new people tune in. Maybe someone will recognise something in a friend, family member or work acquaintance & that might just start a dialogue happening.
I would love to see a show like The Project have a guest on each night talking about their mental health or even support groups like SANE or LifeLine. 2 minutes over 6 days - that would help get peoples attention.
I would have also liked 60 minutes to have run a show about MI tonight. But I don't think that is happening.
Maybe we could all write to these programs and stations and see if they will do something positive about it for next year.

In response to: Re: Is Mental Health Week effective?

Unknown userMember09 Oct 2016, 4:42 pm AEDT

Re: Is Mental Health Week effective?

I think I'm on the same page but I think it must help a bit. I guess it would be great @utopia for someone like the project to pick it up. I think 'hack' on jjj does a good job too reaching young people. Last year that was really good. My kids even listened to it.

I think that the important misconception I would like changed is that people are not their diagnosis. And that everyone with a certain diagnosis is not the same. Sometimes it feels like people get stereotyped by their type of illness. I would like to see that changed. Some people do behave similarly when they are having an episode and others are different but when we are travelling ok we are very different people with our own personalities.

In response to: Is Mental Health Week effective?

utopiaSenior Contributor09 Oct 2016, 4:50 pm AEDT

Re: Is Mental Health Week effective?

@Former-Member. I agree. We are not our illness. And people with the same diagnosis may have different symptoms. And some days / weeks / months are good. We are just normal everyday people who happen to have an illness that affects our brains and not iur bones

In response to: Is Mental Health Week effective?

BlueBaySenior Contributor09 Oct 2016, 5:00 pm AEDT

Re: Is Mental Health Week effective?

Good idea @utopia if major tv channels did a story on mental illness. And 2 minutes each night isn't too long but would expose mental illness and help people.

In response to: Is Mental Health Week effective?

utopiaSenior Contributor09 Oct 2016, 5:10 pm AEDT

Re: Is Mental Health Week effective?

yes @BlueBay. And I think I'm well enough and strong enough to advocate for this. So I think I'll write a campaign & start it in the next few weeks.
We also need people like you @BlueBay & others like @Former-Member &@mrkotter - who have been willing to share their MI in their workplaces or families or general community. I think this makes a huge difference. I expect that some staff from your work may tune into ABC or notice events advertised for Mental Health Week.
That's how we get this message out there into the public demain. We keep talking about it. And we don't stop.
Feeling overly passionate about all of this.

In response to: Re: Is Mental Health Week effective?

Unknown userMember09 Oct 2016, 5:49 pm AEDT

Re: Is Mental Health Week effective?

@utopia @BlueBay @Queenie @Former-Member

I don't watch a lot of TV, listen to the radio or read the news, so I am not really the right person to ask about an impact of a mental health week. This week I will make an effort to look out for events and TV programs and share this with my husband, friends and work mates.

I really wanted to organise something for mental health week / mental health day, but will give it a miss.

In response to: Is Mental Health Week effective?

utopiaSenior Contributor09 Oct 2016, 5:53 pm AEDT

Re: Is Mental Health Week effective?

@Former-Member. I think just telling family and friends about this week is all you need to do. Didn't mean ro imply you should do more.
More a congratulations on telling your workplace

In response to: Is Mental Health Week effective?

SaharaSenior Contributor09 Oct 2016, 6:05 pm AEDT

Re: Is Mental Health Week effective?

Thanks @utopia,

I plan to watch tonight and then post maybe tomorrow morning. Hope everyone has a nice evening!

In response to: Re: Is Mental Health Week effective?

Unknown userMember09 Oct 2016, 6:19 pm AEDT

Re: Is Mental Health Week effective?

@utopia I didn't think you meant for me to do more - it was I just had the idea to do it, but then time just flew past... perhaps I get a big cake 🙂

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