Mental Health is so important and as GMEAN, we want to make sure that everyone has the right tools they need to stay healthy and happy.
Society must accept mental illness as the equal to physical disease. We must treat mental affliction as a disease, instead of categorising it as a threat and treating it as misbehaviour to be isolated from society and punished. The less understanding our society is towards mental illness, the more victims will be motivated to hide their mental illness and thereby worsen the situation for all.
In the month of May (Mental Health Awareness Month), our Youth in Focus leaders ran a 2 part Mental Health program under the theme ”Let’s Talk Youth & Mental Health”. We discussed:
* Behaviour Health / Suicide
Our youth and general audience spoke openly and candidly of their own experiences and the need for society to become educated on this illness that can sometimes be hidden. Our goal is always to encourage equality between physical and mental health, encourage the choice of empowerment over shame, encourage those who suffer from mental health issues, to speak up and seek help.
As Youth In Focus we want to create safe spaces to have those crucial conversations in our communities. We want to encourage people to be aware, notice, see and recognize the signs of someone who has mental health challenges and need help.
The discussion continues later this year, so stay tuned.
