Change What You Can
October 10th is World Mental Health Day.
Per Wikipedia, “World Mental Health Day is an international day for global mental health education, awareness and advocacy against social stigma. It was first celebrated in 1992 at the initiative of the World Federation for Mental Health, a global mental health organization with members and contacts in more than 150 countries. This day, each October, thousands of supporters come to celebrate this annual awareness program to bring attention to mental illness and its major effects on people’s lives worldwide.”
Beginning in 1994, World Mental Health Day was celebrated with a theme, at the suggestion of then Secretary General Eugene Brody. Brody was Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and Dean for Social and Behavioral Studies at the University of Maryland.
Brody was inspired by his mother who had schizophrenia that began during his childhood. Brody was President of the World Federation for Mental Health from 1981 to 1983 and Secretary General from 1983 to 1999.
Themes Of All The WMHDs:
1994- Improving the Quality of Mental Health Services throughout the World
1996- Women and Mental Health
1997- Children and Mental Health
1998- Mental Health and Human Rights
1999- Mental Health and Ageing
2000-01- Mental Health and Work
2002- The Effects of Trauma and Violence on Children & Adolescents
2003- Emotional and Behavioural Disorders of Children & Adolescents
2004- The Relationship Between Physical and Mental Health: co-occurring disorders
2005- Mental and Physical Health Across the Life Span
2006- Building Awareness –Reducing Risk: Mental Illness & Suicide
2007- Mental Health in A Changing World: The Impact of Culture and Diversity
2008 – Making Mental Health a Global Priority: Scaling up Services through Citizen Advocacy and Action
2009 – Mental Health in Primary Care: Enhancing Treatment and Promoting Mental Health
2010- Mental Health and Chronic Physical Illnesses
2011- The Great Push: Investing in Mental Health
2012- Depression: A Global Crisis
2013- Mental Health and Older Adults
2014- Living With Schizophrenia
2015- Dignity in Mental Health
2016- Psychological and Mental Health First Aid
2017- Mental Health in the Workplace
2018- Young People and Mental Health in a Changing World
2019- Mental Health Promotion and Suicide Prevention
2020- Mental Health for all – Greater investment – Greater access
2021- Mental Health in an Unequal World
2022- Make mental health & well-being for all a global priority
This year’s theme, Make mental health & well-being for all a global priority. For all. In our story this would mean including individuals with disabilities. In 2021 the theme was, Mental Health in an Unequal World. In 2020 the theme was another version of mental health for all. And included the words - greater access.
Disability is among a number of inequality-linked factors which correlate to a higher chance of experiencing mental health problems. And, as our family has experienced, a lower chance of getting adequate help. There is still work to be done on greater access.
Progress is being made. Starting on July 16th, 2022, every person in every community can dial “988” to reach trained crisis counselors who can help in a mental health, substance use or suicide crisis.
Per www.nami.org, “988 is the first step in reimagining our crisis response, but there’s more work to do to ensure everyone receives the help they need — and deserve — in a crisis.
Too often, people with mental illness do not receive a mental health response when experiencing a mental health crisis. Instead, people in crisis often come into contact with law enforcement rather than a mental health professional. People in crisis deserve better. The lack of a robust mental health crisis system leads to tragic results. One in four fatal police shootings between 2015 and 2020 involved a person with a mental illness, and an estimated 44% of people incarcerated in jail and 37% of people incarcerated in prison have a mental health condition — and people with mental illness are booked into the nation’s jails around 2 million times every year. Millions more end up in emergency departments that are often ill-equipped to address mental health crises, often waiting hours or days to access care.
NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) is committed to advancing efforts to reimagine crisis response in our country. We believe that every person in crisis, and their families, should receive a humane response that treats them with dignity and connects them to appropriate and timely care. NAMI is calling for a standard of care for crisis services in every community that includes — 24/7 call centers that answer 988 calls locally, mobile crisis teams and crisis stabilization programs — that end the revolving door of ER visits, arrests, incarceration and homelessness.
In 2020, the nation took a significant step forward with the enactment of the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act, a bill NAMI advocated for that created a nationwide three-digit number (988) to assist people experiencing a mental health or suicidal crisis. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) determined that this number would be available — by both phone and text — in July 2022, and is now available in communities across the country.
NAMI is leading efforts to urge policymakers to invest in a crisis system that provides people with someone to talk to, someone to respond and somewhere to go. It will take federal, state and local action to implement the national best practices for crisis care in every community to ensure everyone in crisis gets the help they need, when they need it.
In addition to calling on federal policymakers to require that crisis services be covered by all health insurers and to provide substantial funding to states to build out crisis services, mental health advocates need to urge their state leaders to action. Advocates must educate state policymakers about how our current response to crisis falls short, and how a reimagined crisis response system will help. This system should include:
24/7 Local Crisis Call Centers
“Someone to talk to”
All calls to 988 should be answered locally by staff who are well-trained and experienced in responding to a wide range of mental health, substance use and suicidal crises. Crisis call centers should be able to connect people to local services, including dispatching mobile crisis teams and scheduling follow-up appointments with local providers.Mobile Crisis Teams
“Someone to respond”
Mobile crisis teams should be available for people in crisis who need more support than can be offered over the phone. Staffed by mental health professionals, including peers, these teams can de-escalate crisis situations and connect a person to crisis stabilization programs or other services. Mobile crisis teams should collaborate closely with law enforcement, but only include police as co-responders in high-risk situations.Crisis Stabilization Programs
“Somewhere to go”
Some individuals in crisis will need more assistance from crisis stabilization programs that provide short-term observation and stabilization. These trauma-informed programs may also identify additional treatment needs and provide a “warm hand-off” to follow-up care, from peer supports and outpatient services to more intensive services, such as hospitalization.
Get Involved
Mental health advocates across the country have the power to demand that a comprehensive crisis system be offered in every community, to every person who needs it. You can help by making legislators aware of both the problem — our inadequate crisis system — and the solution. Here are six ways you can act today:
Sign NAMI’s petition to show your commitment to reimagining crisis response in your community.
Share your story to power our advocacy by telling us your own crisis response experience. The real-life experiences of people who’ve encountered good or bad crisis response help policymakers understand why change is needed.
Email your members of Congress to tell them to fund a crisis response infrastructure.
Explore how your community can #ReimagineCrisis. Find helpful information and timely resources to use in your advocacy efforts to build a better crisis response system.
Learn about ways to influence your state policymakers. See if there is any current legislation in your state and connect with your NAMI State Organization to learn how they are supporting legislation and how you may get involved.
Recruit other advocates by posting on social media to demand a mental health response to mental health crises.”
If you click on the underlined section above that says, six ways you can act today, it will take you directly to the NAMI website.
I signed the petition. I hope that each of you will too. I have been sharing our story. I am planning to email my members of Congress. I post my blog on social media. I’m doing all the things. With hopes of making a difference. Like the below quote says, I’m changing what I can. And managing the rest.
“Change what you can, manage what you can’t.” - Raymond McCauley
“Your illness is not your identity. Your chemistry is not your character.” - Pastor Rick Warren
“Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own unguarded thoughts.” - Buddha
“The bravest thing I ever did was continuing to live my life when I wanted to die.” - Juliette Lewis
“Deep breathing is our nervous system’s love language.” - Dr. Lauren Fogel Mersy