10.10.12
World Mental Health Day focuses on depression
On World Mental Health Day, the World Health Organisation (WHO) is seeking to raise public awareness about mental health issues. The theme for this year is Depression: A Global Crisis.
Depression affects more than 350 million people of all ages around the world, and while there are known effective treatments, access to these are difficult in most countries. In developing nations, eight out of 10 people with depression get no treatment at all.
With job losses and pressure on incomes, mental illness may be rising, and today campaigns are taking place around the country to increase awareness and understanding of mental health conditions.
Four leading mental health charities – Rethink Mental Illness, Afiya Trust, Mind and NSUN – are launching a practical guide for people with mental illness and their families, and how they can have their voices heard in the system and hold services to account.
The group is today also launching a series of briefings, for six of the key organisations with a role in delivering the mental health strategy, including health and wellbeing boards, clinical commissioning groups and local healthwatch organisations.
Paul Jenkins, CEO of the charity Rethink Mental Illness said: “Too often in the past, involving people who use services has been a tokenistic, box ticking exercise and it’s not good enough. Local communities should be listened to at all stages – from the very beginning when major decisions are being made about what kind of support is needed in an area, to giving feedback on existing support.
“We hope this guide will arm people with the knowledge they need to demand more and hold their local health and social care services to account.”
Paul Farmer, chief executive of Mind, said: “The Government’s mental health strategy and implementation framework were positive steps, but we know far more progress needs to be made.
“This guide will help people use the mental health strategy as a lever to influence the new NHS systems, improve services and campaign for change, to ensure everyone with mental health problems gets the support they need and the respect they deserve.”
Sarah Yiannoullou, managing director of NSUN said: “This guide equips people with important information about how best to influence services and understand the recent changes to health and social care policy. In this way ‘No decision about us, without us’ becomes meaningful.”
The guide, ‘No decision about us, without us’, can be found at www.rethink.org/how_we_can_help/our_campaigns/current_campaigns/no_health_without__1
WHO has produced an animated video about depression, ‘I had a black dog, his name was depression’, which can be accessed here: www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XiCrniLQGYc
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