Mental Health Promotion
Mental health promotion involves any action taken to enhance the mental well-being of individuals, families, organizations, and communities. These actions work to prevent mental health problems and aim to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness. Effective mental health promotion always presupposes respect for consumers, their rights, and their recovery.
Some specific goals of mental health promotion:
- improve physical health and well-being,
- prevent or reduce the risk of mental health problems,
- assist with recovery from mental health problems,
- improve mental health services,
- improve quality of life for people with mental health problems,
- strengthen community capacity to support social inclusion,
- reduce vulnerability to social and economic stresses, and
- improve health at work, thereby increasing productivity and reducing sick leave.
Mental health promotion can take place within mental health services and through mental health policy. In the service sector, mental health promotion could include the delivery of programs that focus on health rather than illness, taking a broad, holistic approach to individual needs and involving consumers in the planning, development, delivery, and monitoring of services. Similarly, at the policy level, mental health promotion has a broad reach. While policy that addresses the promotion of mental health aims to support those who are experiencing mental health problems, it also works to improve community mental health through the prevention of mental health problems in the first place.
Because positive mental health is the result of many interacting factors, there is no single promotion method. Instead, there is a wide range of theoretical perspectives and models which can be used to develop a strategic framework for promoting community mental health.
Programs that work to promote good mental health may:
- offer instruction in life skills, coping skills, stress reduction, physical health care, and other personal care skills;
- work to reduce stress and other mental health risk factors in the workplace;
- provide support through major life events such as the birth of a child, the death of a loved one, or the loss of employment;
- advocate for strong mental and emotional health programs in pre-school settings for all children;
- provide community-based services for people with mental health problems, their families, and carers;
- work to combat social risk factors for mental health problems such as violence, poverty, malnutrition, and high unemployment,
- address the needs of particularly vulnerable populations such as those who have experienced abuse or other violence, those who are homeless, incarcerated populations, those experiencing problems with alcohol and drugs, and people who may experience discrimination and social exclusion for reasons other than mental health problems.
Everyone has mental health needs and the good mental health of each individual ultimately contributes to the overall mental well-being of a community. Conversely, poor mental health affects everyone and can carry great costs: mental, physical, social, and even financial. Thus, the most effective mental health promotion programs target whole communities, including and benefiting people with and without mental health problems.
In this section of the website you will find information on best practices in mental health promotion, relevant publications and reports, and a list of other useful links.