#MHForAll webinar: What’s happening across the globe for World Mental Health Day
The 10th October, 2022 marks the 30th anniversary of World Mental Health Day (WMHD), a day dedicated to raising awareness and mobilising support for mental health issues across the world.
The 51st Global Mental Health Action Network (GMHAN) webinar saw a record 340 attendees and brought together experts such as the WHO, UNICEF and WMHD founders, The World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH) to learn about their plans for WMHD and discuss how others could get involved nationally and globally on this important occasion.
The expert panel for this session included:
Niall Boyce, Head of Field Building in Mental Health, Wellcome Trust (Chair)
Dr. Nasser Loza, President, World Federation for Mental Health.
Dan Chisholm, Mental Health Specialist, Department of Mental Health and Substance Use, WHO.
Emma Ferguson, Global Advocacy Lead, Child and Adolescent Mental Health, UNICEF.
M. Aditya Setiawan, Information and Communications Supervisor, PR-Yakkum.
Gary Belkin, Founder, Billion Minds Trust.
Catch up on the full session
Session chair, Niall Boyce of the Wellcome Trust, began by acknowledging that much has changed since WMHD was first launched in 1992. Technology and online seminars such as the monthly MHForAll webinar have allowed us to create a “truly global mental health community,” says Niall, which is essential for worldwide collaboration on WMHD.
We invite you to access the GMHAN WMHD events calendar
To further support worldwide collaboration, GMHAN is compiling a list of all planned member and partner activities in the lead up to WMHD. Inputted data and information feed into a shared calendar which is currently live on the GMHAN website. We invite you to add your own events and see events from GMHAN members on the calendar.
World Federation for Mental Health
In countries throughout the world, campaigns are being developed around the central WMHD theme, "Make Mental Health and Wellbeing a Global Priority for All."
“This is the first time that “wellbeing” has been included in the theme for WMHD”, said WFMH President, Dr Nasser Loza.
This was a deliberate choice to ensure mental health conversations are more accessible and inclusive to “society as a whole,” as opposed to being limited to the mental health community. Campaigns that include the voices of lived experience will go much further and have a greater reach, says Dr Nasser. The voices of politicians, actors, musicians, but especially football players, can have a significant impact at a local and country-level.
World Health Organisation
Dan Chilsolm explains that the WHO has developed a special campaign in the lead up to WMHD, which focuses on the theme chosen by the Federation.
Though the theme changes each year, the WHO has three consistent goals for their campaign: “to raise awareness, understanding and promote action on mental health.”
To achieve this, WHO regional & country offices, international partners and other key stakeholders convene to align on messaging and organise local events and activities. Alongside the development of a core campaign, this year the WHO has three additional activities planned for WMHD and two new resources available to support global advocacy:
WHO WMHD Activities
WHO Annual Mental Health Forum.
10th & 11th October.
Register your interest by writing to mhforum@who.int.High-level Italian Ministerial Summit on Mental Health.
12th-15th October.
Invite only.The Lancet Commission on Stigma and Discrimination in Mental Health launch.
10th October.
Register your place for the launch event.
Resources
World Mental Health Report: Transforming Mental Health for All. Access the report here.
WHO Guidelines on Mental Health at Work. Access the guidelines here.
UNICEF
Similarly to the WHO, UNICEF has also been developing a comprehensive set of tools, resources and educational material which will be launched around WMHD.
UNICEF’S Global Advocacy Lead, Emma Ferguson, explains that it is important to have “role models modelling the behaviour of talking about mental health,” a campaigning strategy that is also endorsed by Dr Nasser.
UNICEF’s WMHD campaign has been developed to address issues of stigma and discrimination and build capacity and skills for young people and ensure they are equipped with the necessary tools to drive policy change - though they shouldn’t be expected to shoulder this burden alone, says Emma.
UNICEF’s comprehensive list of WMHD activities and resources cater specifically to young people and youth campaigners, but are equally as useful for caregivers and civil society organisations.
UNICEF WMHD Activities & Launches:
Videos and influencer pieces featuring UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors.
Comprehensive social media pack with expert advice, tips and animated content - available to partners in early October.
A new series featuring youth advocates of mental health from Nepal, Zimbabwe, Jamaica and US - available in early October.
New chat-bot function will be live on UNICEF’S U-Report channel, aimed at young people specifically to help build self-acceptance and talk about mental health in a way that is non-stigmatising.
New content and information uploaded on webpages and on the parenting hub.
Additional tools being developed at the UNICEF Office for Research, Italy to map data of MHPSS interventions for adolescents in the last 10 years and a new data collection tool.
PR-YAKKUM
Grassroots organisation PR-YAKKUM, have been working specifically with the religious community in Indonesia to tackle issues around stigma and discrimination around mental health and suicide in the lead up to WMHD.
Aditya Setiawan of PR-YAKKUM explains that the organisation has been collaborating with religious leaders in Indonesia to produce a set of mental health declarations. These declarations will be disseminated locally, nationally and globally and are designed to support campaigners that are trying to overcome cultural and religious barriers in their work to promote better mental health and wellbeing for all and support suicide prevention efforts.
Alongside this, PR-YAKKUM, will be hosting an in-person event and hope to bring together over 2000 people to amplify the core WMHD message.
The goal is to break the Guinness World Record for the largest mental health awareness campaign and bring attention to the cause through media channels and online platforms.
Care of People x Planet (COP²)
Gary Belkin of Billion Minds Institute is taking a different approach, and will be using this day to highlight the intersection between mental health, wellbeing and climate change.
COP² will be hosting virtual ‘Regional Dialogues’ on WMHD to discuss how different parts of the world are approaching these intersecting issues. The intention of these workshops are to discuss and better understand the impacts of climate change on “human infrastructures, social infrastructures and emotional resilience.”
Gary explains that the overarching objective of this project is to grow awareness and community interest in COP², establish an open and highly participative consultative process about these intersections and use those inputs to establish a roadmap which will be presented at COP27.
To participate in this session, visit the website.
Watch the full webinar recording and learn more about youth participation, regional and cross-organisational collaboration and much much more!
Our next MHForAll session will be on Tuesday 25th October, 2pm-3pm BST, where we will reflect on the successes of this year’s WMHD campaigns and look at how we can continue to build on this momentum. Register your place now.