What are some ways to advocate for mental health access for patients?

Advocating for improved mental health access for patients is essential to ensure that people receive the care and support they need. Educate Yourself: Before you can effectively advocate, it's crucial to educate yourself about mental health issues, the current state of mental healthcare, and the specific challenges in your region. Raise Awareness: Use social media, local events, and other platforms to raise awareness about the importance of mental health access. Challenge stigmas and myths surrounding mental health. Share Personal Stories: Sharing personal stories about your own or a loved one's mental health journey can be a powerful way to humanize the issue and demonstrate the real impact of inadequate access.

Providing free mentahealth services to the people living with mentalillness here is huma atta clinical psychologist and certified cbt therapist treating depression through behavioral activation therapy

Antes de mais é necessário quebrar o estigma que ainda persiste quando se abordam as questões da saúde mental. É necessário também educar os pacientes acerca da prevenção e tratamento das patologias mentais. Dotar os profissionais de saúde de ferramentas que tornem a sua comunicação com os pacientes mais empático, usando um linguagem mais clara, acessível e positiva

Promoting mental health access is crucial for overall well-being. Whether you're a patient, caregiver, or concerned citizen, you can make a difference. Discover effective tips and strategies in this article to raise awareness, advocate for policy changes, and empower yourself and others in the journey towards better mental health support.

We usually, unknowingly, delegate the responsibility of having good mental health to other people; for example expecting family, friends or colleagues to always treat us right, to support us and generally provide a conducive environment for good mental health. While this is ideal, we have no control over our external environment and therefore mental health is primarily a personal responsibility. It is up to you to know your rights, speak up about your needs, assertively seek support and also importantly practise self-care.

My journey with mental health advocacy and leadership is deeply rooted in personal experience. At the age of 16, my world was turned upside down when I lost my father, a war veteran whose battles extended far beyond the battlefield and into complex mental health challenges. This monumental loss didn't just leave a void in my life; it thrust me into the position of becoming the primary carer for my mother, another individual fighting her own severe mental health conditions. This early exposure to caregiving didn't break me; rather, it kindled within me a unique form of empathy. Yet, another wave of tragedy hit when I lost my mother to suicide, adding another layer of complexity to my relationship with mental health.

It would be helpful to hear these stories in spaces not normally considered appropriate. Like during office meetings, briefly in email communications and so on. We need to accept such stories as a legitimate call for support and guide to improve decision making. This could empower more to attend to mental health care in an open and empowering environment.

The key first step is to have a psychiatrist. Trouble is there are not enough, most in the private sector and are expensive

Stories are powerful tools, making people with lived experiences important partners in mental health advocacy. They humanise the conversation. People are more likely to seek mental health intervention after hearing about it from a person they know or know of, compared to hearing from a mental health practitioner. I usually make a call to my therapy clients as we terminate sessions, to 'go ye forth and tell your story,' whenever they are ready to do so.

Mental Illness and Substance Misuse are as prevalent as they are misunderstood. Can you imagine someone with a broken leg being told they simply aren't trying hard enough? Maybe if they don't feel well they should just try feeling better? Or go outside more? These pieces of advice, while generally applicable to goal setting and individual wellness, are even handed out by seasoned clinicians who may have lost site of the illness. Or imagine if there were a housing program for people HIV disease, and imagine if they were turned away because they had symptoms related to HIV disease. It sounds absurd right? Now imagine it is a housing program for people with from opiate dependence.

Until very recently, counselling psychologists and psychiatrists have been depicted as quirky unstable characters in movies and on TV generally. The counselling sessions therein have also been nothing short of ridiculous. This and many other misconceptions cloud the mental health space. These scenarios end up creating stigma and impede treatment seeking behaviour for mental health patients. It is important to educate ourselves on mental health issues and thankfully we now have many content creators, both mainstream media and social media, focusing on debunking the myths and providing the correct information about mental health.

This also can be attributed by sensitizing more mental health personnel's to the grass root for easy accessibility of the services

Have you considered whether you have implicit bias towards substance use? Or mental illness? Seeing if you can measure implicit bias may be revealing and an important component of your own education. Have you ever heard someone jokingly call someone bipolar? There is an instance to challenge. Would they make the joke about symptoms related to cancer?

Policy Advocacy Engage in policy advocacy to change or introduce legislation that enhances mental health access. This can include lobbying, grassroots mobilisation, or engaging in public consultations. Academic research, such as the work you are involved in, can provide the empirical evidence needed to support policy changes. Public Awareness and Education Ignorance and stigma often contribute to mental health inequality. Thus, public awareness campaigns, workshops, and seminars can be instrumental in changing perceptions. These platforms can also serve to educate people about available services and how to access them.

Peer and lived experience-led organisations should be a crucial starting point to inform yourself on what supports are needed in your area. Often access to supports and mental health care is determined by others. A contemporary, lived-experience-led and human rights based approach is to acknowledge and honour the expertise of those most directed by an issue. Importantly, the organisations by people with lived experience have visibility of their community's needs and have been supporting one another for some time. If you are not someone with lived experience, you should consider how you can amplify the voices of those already calling for support, including by lived experience-led organisations.

Self care also includes being free to say no to some demands as well as setting healthy boundaries. Assertiveness therefore forms a key ingredient when it comes to self care.

In the midst of our busy lives, it's easy to overlook the importance of mental health. But now, more than ever, we need to prioritize it. Advocating for mental health access starts with taking good care of our own well-being. Stress can have a significant impact on our mental health. Let's explore stress management techniques like mindfulness, deep breathing, and engaging in activities that bring us joy. Prioritizing stress reduction is a step towards advocating for mental health access.

As a single parent, struggled with depression and anxiety- CBT, support and self education through mindfulness have helped personally, however I’ve realised to stay mentally well I need to stay active. My mum once suggested i make an excuse/lie to protect my son when I was mentally struggling & upset - how would that help him, I’m not burdening him, just being open. I donate time to a local group to raise mental health awareness, normalise MH conversations. This followed a young man in the community’s suicide-it’s brought great strength, togetherness and support creating a local health hub -so many have donated time, or businesses have help, bringing people together fundraising - a healthy community impacts on healthy individuals win win

With the help and support with case managers and ongoing follow up, patients must: -manage their antidepresant medication - substance use treatment and follow up after ED visits for alcohol/drug use - post hospitalization follow up for mental health illness - education in the importance of adherence to antipsychotic drugs regimen - cardiac and diabetes monitoring for patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia

The stigma around mental health problems decreases access to mental health services, even if that decrease is only a mental block. Everyone must be willing to openly discuss mental health issues and show empathy to those affected. This can be destigmatized if we spread awareness through the use of social media and informational campaigns. Access to mental health services can also be increased through the use of telehealth, a widely available and affordable to communicate with mental health care providers who may not be easily reached, otherwise, such as in rural communities.

One thing I have found useful is ensuring that mental health conversations are part of the organizational culture. This is made possible by working with organizational psychologists or mental health experts to develop workplace mental health policies. These policies offer a structure and help organizations to prevent mental health illnesses, promote good mental health and support those that are already having difficulties.

Consider how mental illness and substance misuse disorders are categorized on your paperwork, or in your workflow. Do you ask patients about their medical conditions, and then later ask about mental illness? Do you present psychiatric diagnoses among other ones? Or are they set aside in some other arbitrary category? How YOU present illness, as illness, is important.

Leverage Technology In our digital age, technology can be a powerful ally in advocating for mental health access. Harness social media and online platforms not just to share your story but also to connect with like-minded advocates and organizations. Use these tools to amplify your message and reach a broader audience. Online petitions, awareness campaigns, and virtual events are effective means of advocating for change. Technology can make the world of mental health advocacy smaller and more interconnected.

There should be a deliberate effort to transfer knowledge about mental health issues from elites to lower ranks in the mental health fraternity. There should be a top-to-bottom transfer of knowledge, educational empowerment of the lower rank professionals about critical issues in mental health. Demystifying the mysteries and politics surrounding mental health care.