World Mental Health Day 2024
Photo Credits: World Mental Health Foundation UK
October 14, 2024
Story Highlights
- Community Initiatives: In various cities and towns around the world, communities gather together to organize events for World Mental Health Day. These events raise awareness but also strengthen bonds as a society.
- Personal Testimonies: Individuals share their personal struggles through social media. For example, people started to share sort form content into TikTok to share their journeys with mental health challenges. There’s also hashtags created to support it.
- Social Media input: influencers and celebrities share their experiences on specific mental health themes. These initiatives have helped address issues regarding mental health online and by bringing awareness to this topic. The global outreach of these initiatives have demonstrated efforts to prioritize mental health on a worldwide scale.
SAN DIEGO-Taking a look around San Diegans on World Mental Health Day 2024.
World Mental Health Day is recognized on October 10. It aims as a reminder to raise awareness by starting a conversation and end the stigma that surrounds talking about personal mental health struggles.
It encourages communities, workplaces, school environments to bring together as a society. By coming together to share stories, testimonials, educate and support each other, by creating a safe environment and a more compassionate society.
Inclusivity
San Diego raised awareness to Foster Youth and Teens as a way to end the stigma surrounding this issue. Tonya Torosian, CEO of Promises2Kids spoke on FOX 5 San Diego.
“80% of foster youth experience mental health issues as a result of their abuse.” said Torosian. “
Factors like race, gender, and age impact mental health status and experiences. These factors often get overlooked which can cause a gap between mainstream mental health recognition and community.
Digital Well-being
The theme of this day is to erase what it appears is the importance of the bad stigma that surrounds mental health and to bring in the importance of the conversations that surround mental health.
– Popular Hashtags noted:
#MentalHealthDay, #MentalhealthMatters, and #EndTheStigma were used for October 10, 2024 to help push awareness and to get help start the conversation.
Influencers and Famous people:
Influencers and celebrities help tune in the conversation by sharing resources, using the hashtags or talk about. Mental Health activists help drive the conversation and help bring awareness to this topic.
Content:
Short form videos on the app TikTok where people can share their testimonies surrounding their mental health struggles. Posts are used and uploaded to social media to bring the feeling of connecting and relating.
Workplace in Mental Health
There’s a noticeable lack of conversation surrounding workplace and mental health that often leads employers or supervisors to feel overwhelmed. Complevensive employee support and better policies for mental health days off are needed in a work environment.
The World Mental Health Organization stated that to protect mental health, it is recommended:
- Have manager training for mental health.
- Training for workers.
- Inventions for individuals.
It is important and essential to talk about mental health everyday, to keep bringing awareness to an ongoing issue and a struggle that affects millions of people.
The challenges people face regarding mental health issues most of them don’t have a cure.
This issue is a problem that does not discriminate but by coming together as a society we can break the sigma, start a conversation and come together to encourage one another in our daily struggles.
Sources:
“Mental Health at Work.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-at-work. Accessed 14 Oct. 2024.
“World Mental Health Day 2024.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, www.who.int/campaigns/world-mental-health-day/2024. Accessed 14 Oct. 2024.
YouTube, YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMHR7ARdGUg. Accessed 14 Oct. 2024.