Mental Health Week

This article discusses the objectives of Mental Health Week, the role of government and non-governmental organizations, engaging communities, and the impact of media in promoting mental health. It provides insights into mental health issues in Australia.

Running Head: MENTAL HEALTH WEEK
Mental Health Week
Students Name
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Date

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Mental Health Week
Introduction
World Mental Health Day was initially celebrated on 10 October 1992. World mental
health day was started as yearly activity of the World Federation for Mental health by Richard
Hunter, the then Deputy secretary of the organization. World mental health day is officially
celebrated each year on October 10th. It should be noted that initially, world mental health day
had no specific or particular theme. Moreover, the aims were based on promotion of mental
health advocacy as well as educating people on pertinent issues. During the first three years since
the inception of the day, one of the significant activities to mark the day was a telecast
broadcasted globally for two hours via the United States of America information satellite agency
from the Tallahassee studio in Florida (Canada Newswire, 2019). World federation for Mental
Health board members took part in the celebration from the studio with live telephone
participation from Zambia, England, Chile and Australia and segments which were pre-taped
were spread in Mexico City, Atlanta and Geneva.
A theme for the world mental health day was used for the first time in 1994 after a
suggestion from Eugene Brody (Canada Newswire, 2019). The first theme was enhancing
quality of services of mental health throughout the globe. It should be noted that various
feedbacks were received from 27 nations immediately after the campaign with key national
campaigns in England and Australia (Canada Newswire, 2019). The board members of the world
federation for mental health were very instrumental for coming up with the theme and arranging
the events. It should be noted that after three years the day had become vital occasion for the
interested organizations, committed persons and governments to arrange the program focusing
on the elements of mental healthcare (PR Newswire, 2018). This paper will discuss objectives of

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mental health week, the role of government in mental health week, engaging communities in
mental health week and the role of media in mental health promotion.
The objective of mental health week
Mental health week is a national week which is celebrated every year in October around
world mental health day on October 10. The aim of the initiative is to enhance public interest and
awareness in mental wellbeing and health (Director, 2018).
The role of government and non-governmental organization in mental health
Mental health is described as the state of wellbeing in which every person recognizes his
or her potential, can cope or cope with the normal stresses of life, can effectively and
productively operate, as well as is able to make a contribution to his or her people or community.
When an individual has a condition, which impacts his or her mental health, his or she may have
a mental health disorder or mental illness which includes conditions like anxiety, bipolar
disorder, schizophrenia and depression. In Australia, the policy and medical framework for
mental health services is an intricate mixture of private and public systems having funding
shared between the territory, state and Australian government, and private and individual’s
health insurers.
The national survey of mental wellbeing and health of the Australian Bureau of statistics
offers the most detailed approximates for mental health disorders in the Australian adults.
According to the survey, it is approximated that over 45% of the individuals in the country have
experienced a mental illness in their lifetime with over 23% experiencing a mental illness in the
previous year. In 2014, a report done by the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of
Psychiatrists approximated that the cost of severe mental disorder was about 57 billion annually

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which indicated the direct economic costs of adverse mental disorder originating form the use of
health as well as other services while the indirect costs were because of the loss of productivity
as people become unable to productively work.
The government plays a leadership role in policy-making in mental health, funding and
research issues. The territories and states deliver public and psychiatric healthcare services and a
broad range of public and community health services. The division of responsibilities and roles
in mental health systems in Australia with services being offered and funded by the government,
territory and state government and the non-government and private sectors (Ali, 2016). Territory
and state governments normally fund as well as deliver community sector services of mental
health which offer specialist care for individuals with serious mental health disorders. The
specialist care entail specialized mental health which is delivered in community psychiatric and
acute healthcare settings, territory and state specialized community mental health care services,
as well as territory and state specialized homecare mental health care services. Moreover,
territories and states offer other mental health-particular services in the local settings like
supported social housing and accommodation programs. The government finances an array of
mental health linked services via Medicare Benefits Schedule as well as the pharmaceutical
Benefits scheme and the repatriation pharmaceutical benefits scheme. The government also
finances several mainstream services and programs that offer vital support for individuals with
mental illness. Such services entail community and social support (Ali, 2016), services for the
disability, housing assistance, as well as workforce participation programs.
Services offered by the private sectors include admitting an individual in a private mental
health institutions and private services offered by the psychologists, psychiatrists and other
medical professionals.

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Non-governmental mental health organizations in Australia are private organization, that is, both
for-profit and not-for-profit organizations which receive government and private funding
(Smullen, 2016). The services offered by the non-governmental organizations usually focus on
offering wellbeing support as well as assistance to individuals who have mental health disorder
instead of diagnosis, assessment, and treatment tasks performed by medically focused services.
Mental health services in Australia are offered in numerous ways including admitted
individual care in healthcare organizations as well as other homecare, healthcare-based
outpatient care, community mental illness care services and consultation with both experts in
medical field and the general practitioners.
The significance of engaging communities in mental health week in Australia
The prevalence, incidence and prognosis of mental health illness is highly linked to
community and public-factors (Parker et al. 2019). the integration as well as availability of
mental health services into communities has the potential of promoting acceptability, scalability,
affordability and accessibility of services and promoting treatment adherence and enhance the
likelihood of positive medical outcomes (Nadeau, Jaimes, Johnson-Lafleur & Rousseau, 2017).
Furthermore, community services may play a vital role in promoting awareness in mental health,
reducing discrimination and stigma, supporting social inclusion and recovery and inhibiting
mental disorder. Therefore, including or integrating various communities in mental health week
in the country ensures that the public are made aware of the concepts of mental health. Inclusion
of community in mental health week also follows the guidelines which were placed by the
international action guidelines and plans which emphasizes on community mental health care.
For instance, the Action Plan for the 2013-2030 of the World Health Organization stipulates for
the provision of detailed integrated social care and mental health care entailing prevention and

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promotion programs in various communities integrating the engagement and perspectives of
service users as well as families (Kim & Kim, 2017).
According to the guidance of World Psychiatrist Association on community mental
health, mental health care which are oriented to community are characterized as having a public
and community health focus, case findings based on the community, participatory decision-
making peer and self-help support for services consumers, initiation of treatment in primary care
institutions and communities specialist supervises, network across services, religious and
traditional healers and collaboration with private sectors like non-governmental organizations
(Al-Hamzawi et al. 2014). The significance of community mental healthcare can have even
higher relevance in middle and low-income countries compared to high-income countries (NSW
Government Invests in Workplace Mental Health, 2018). Moreover, in regions that is not easily
accessible like remote and local areas, community engagement seems to be vital. For instance, in
Australia, engaging the public in mental health week is vital in regions resided by the Aboriginal
and Torres Islander people who do not the adequate accessibility to vital mental health services,
data and information. in community platforms, like the prayer camps, homes, conventional
healing centers as well as other religious centers, individuals with serious mental health disorder
may be chained, suffer physical and emotional abuse like sexual abuse.
Thus, outreach to members of the community is vital especially in mental health week to
educate them on the rights of the mental health patients (Ma, Huang, Nie, Silenzio & Wei, 2018).
services which are of high standards are normally inadequate to address the negative social
determinants associated with mental health like racial and ethnic discrimination, economic
deprivation, violation of human rights, as well as exposure to traumatic events. Furthermore, the
high stigma levels against mental health patients among the general community as well as health

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workers us a challenge to acquiring specialized services of mental health (Fils-Aimé et al. 2018).
Mental health week is an avenue which is used to educate the public and even the specialists in
mental health to treat and handle mental health patients with dignity and respect that is required
of them. world mental health day organizers normally come up with various themes that are
pertinent to mental health issues and address various emerging mental health concerns.
The role and impact of media in promoting mental health week in Australia
Mental health illness is an intricate issue, entailing numerous diagnosis, services and
treatment. However, when individuals having mental illness are asked what they require for a life
well spent, their answer is normally simple, a job, a friend, and a job. Recovery from mental
health disorders is not concerned with complete relief from the signs and symptoms,
nevertheless, it is about regaining as sense of control over life instead of having the feeling
defined by mental illness. The power of mass media to impact on the public perception as well as
the level in which individuals are exposed to representation by the media makes mass media one
of the vital influences in developing and developing societies (Lu, Dear, Johnston, Wootton &
Titov, 2014). Mass media is arguably the primary source of information in Australia. In the
country, people are progressively using new media technologies like tablets, smartphones,
desktops, and laptops in accessing the internet, with rising frequency to E-Mail, text messages,
blogs and social networking websites like WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Mass
media have a firm impact on individual expectations for children, parents and family,
establishing principles for our way of life, society and worship (Glaser, Liu, Hakim, Vilar &
Zhang, 2018).
Human beings normally view the reality in terms of their own experiences which is
determined by basic groups, secondary groups and mass media. Even though the influence of the

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primary group like family and friends is reducing and the secondary groups are restricted, mass
media influence is rising as it is a permanent and pervasive fixture of human lives. Media plays a
vital role in shaping perceptions and stigma of people concerning mental illness (McManus,
Dryer & Henning, 2017). For instance, media can have a firm influence on the behavior of
people in relation to mental health disorder as well as potential to increase awareness through
promotion of help seeking.
It is vital to understand that media services in Australia may portray mental health
disorder in a manner which promotes stigma and perpetuate myths concerning mental health
disorders (Drouin, Reining, Flanagan, Carpenter & Toscos, 2018). Such roles by the media can
be concerning since stigma is concerned with mental illness has been reported to have adverse
effects on individuals seeking health services for mental health disorders and can also affect
individuals with mental health disorders themselves, affecting their views of their own chances
and capabilities of recovery. The role of mass media in health promotion such as mental health
week ius to offer vital and significant mental health information which is required by carers and
mental health patients (Chapman, Shankar, Palmer & Laugharne, 2017). Since mass media
especially social media is the largest source of information in the country, it is vital that the
organizers of the mental health week disseminate information concerning the themes of mental
health week using various outlets of mass media including social media. By raising awareness
through social media, mental health can be viewed as illness which can be managed by
treatment. It should be noted that mental illness should not be isolated from physical health
conditions like cancer, hypertension, and diabetes. Therefore, media especially social media is
vital in promoting the aims and objectives of mental health week.

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Conclusion
World mental health day is vital day for the government of Australia as it acts as a day
for promoting awareness of the various emerging issues concerning mental health issues. Mental
health week which usually precede world mental health day is an initiative which is organized to
sensitize people on mental health issues based on the theme of the World health mental day.
Various stakeholders like the government, private sectors, the community and social media have
a role to play in promoting mental health in Australia.

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