World Mental Health Day 2020

World Mental Health Day will be celebrated on the 10th of October and is an ideal opportunity for everyone to raise awareness of the issues related to mental health. It is also an opportunity to participate in the fight against social stigma. This is the perfect day for you and your company to contribute to the broad conversation that will be taking place on platforms such as social media and television. You will also get a perfect chance to strongly highlight the things you are currently doing or have already done to address the problems related to mental health stigma in the workplace. It is also possible to introduce newer targeted activities related to the main event.

Joyful Living has a wide range of mental health services to support employees. View our MHFA First Aid Training and Mental Health Awareness Workshops.

The Year’s Theme

The theme of 2020’s event is suicide and suicide prevention. Each year, according to statistics, at least 800,000 individuals take their own lives, and a lot more individuals attempt suicide. This special day’s core mission is to reduce the number of suicide cases and give people hope to keep living. Each suicide, regardless of who does it and where it happens, is a tragedy to the family, community, and most of the time has a permanent effect on the individuals left behind. In the UK, it is reported that suicide is one of the primary causes of death among people aged between 2 and 34 years, and is the second leading cause of mortality among persons aged between 15 and 29 years globally.

As someone responsible, you are strongly encouraged to consider better ways to come up with impactful learning opportunities for all staff members and enhance their overall comprehension of mental health, and more specifically, thoroughly address the stigma around suicide as a way of providing solid support for individuals who might need help.

Who Can Be Affected by Mental Health?

Mental health is a serious issue, and anyone might suffer from these conditions at one point in their lives. But you should be glad because the 10th of October is a special day for you to manifest your support for better mental health and also begin caring for your wellbeing.

Everyone needs mental health care, from learners to people working offices. Despite your current social or financial status, you deserve excellent mental health so that you can achieve both long-term and short-term goals. Your mental health is more like your physical health; anyone can suffer poor health, and they have to take good care of themselves to prevent such conditions. Every year, it is believed that at least one in four people are affected by mental problems. It might come in an array of forms such as anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.

How to Take Care of Your Mental Health

Whether you are currently dealing with a mental wellness issue or not, we all need to ensure that we take good care of our mental health. Mental health has a close relationship with how you feel about yourself, your immediate surroundings, and how you can perfectly cope with day-to-day life. Therefore, your mental wellbeing might change from time to time, month to month, and year to year. There are tips that you can use to ensure that your mental wellness is correctly taken care of at all times. These include creating personal time, creating positive relationships, and ensuring that you are active at all times.

Let us take a second look at what we might mean when we say mental wellness. It is vital to mention that mental wellbeing does not have one set meaning. We can use the term to explain how good we feel about ourselves and how perfectly we are coping with daily life.

You must also know that perfect mental wellbeing does not mean you are always joyous or do not get affected by daily encounters. However, poor mental wellbeing might make it hard for you to cope with daily life, and that is one of the things we will be focusing on the 10th of October.

There are quite a number of doable things that we can always try to do in order to enhance our mental wellness. Though it is never easy to get started, you can begin by only trying the things that feel simpler. For example, you can try giving yourself enough time to find what works for you best and going at your own set pace. You always need to take small steps toward achieving your daily, weekly, monthly, or even yearly set objectives. To gain stability, you want to commence by picking a few easily achievable things and then moving on to try other ideas.

Relax and Minimize Stress

Most of the time, it takes a lot of effort to feel relaxed. If you are lucky to find something in your life that makes you feel more relaxed, it will help if you fixed it into your daily routine. For instance, this might be a walk, a bath, or going to the gym. Maybe you will find it hard to switch from your current lifestyle to another, but all will be well as long as you take it slow.

If you feel that you are straining a lot, we recommend taking a break and reflecting on your life. If it is a stressful situation that gives you a hard time, you can take a break and relax. Just take a few minutes each day to mitigate the feelings of anxiety, and you will feel great about yourself.

Joyful Living has Corporate Stress Management Programs designed for employees. Check our Stress Management, Resilience and Relaxation Techniques corporate workshops.

Try Mindfulness

Mindfulness is the act of paying close attention to current happenings. You can use helpful tactics such as yoga, breathing exercises, and medication. These techniques are a perfect way to help individuals become aware of their feelings and thoughts. This implies that your feelings will stop overwhelming you. Instead, you will gain the capacity to manage them properly.

In some cases, you might find that being on your phone or computer for extended periods makes you feel busy and way too stressed. In that case, you need to take a break and focus on other things that might make you feel relaxed. You can do this for an hour or two. If this also becomes hard, try placing your phone in a different room and have an alarm to help time yourself.

View our Mindfulness, Yoga and Meditation options.

More About World Mental Health Day

World Mental Health Day is a program of the World Federation for Mental Health and was first observed on the 10th of October, 1992. And since the world is undergoing an unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the mental wellness of millions of people has been adversely affected. Now, everyone is aware that the levels of fear, anxiety, isolation, restrictions, and social distancing have become prevalent as the world endeavours to bring the deadly virus under control and find a permanent solution.

The current pandemic has hit all corners of the world and affected over 450 million individuals who were already struggling with issues related to mental wellness. It is important to note that mental disorders that many people are struggling with are the reason for ill-health disability worldwide. At least one person out of four, at different stages of their life, is affected by a mental disorder.

According to the World Health Organization, at least every 40 seconds, someone dies of suicide, and this is a huge number compared to individuals that die by homicide or war. And these are only the ones that successfully take their lives. A bigger proportion of the world population attempts suicide each year. Therefore, on the 10th of October, 2020, we are going to remind ourselves about the key importance of supporting each other’s wellbeing and what can be done to ensure that adequate support is available for everyone.

World Mental Health is an Opportunity to Commit

This campaign will offer unique opportunities to raise awareness of mental health. However, most of these opportunities will be utilized online, given the current world pandemic. As individuals, we will have the best chances to do things that will have positive impacts on our mental wellness. Thus, it is an opportunity that is worth grabbing.

It has been at least 30 years since the first campaign was launched. It is safe to say that many people have hard their lives impacted, and better things are yet to be achieved. As a result, we are happy to state that in 2020, many people will be reached using various platforms, and those who are unknowingly struggling with mental health will be reminded of how best they can take charge of their lives.

It is important to note that many people in different parts of the globe do not have adequate access to good quality mental health services, so there is a need to invest now without failure. Regardless of your current location and situation, you can still participate in this campaign, and you are strongly encouraged to do so. Even if you feel that you are not struggling with mental health and the moment, know that someone else is going through a tough time and needs your attention and support.

As a business you can support your team in an effective way, with  a wide range of mental health services  View our MHFA First Aid Training and Mental Health Awareness Workshops.