It's one of those health issues that still remains a taboo topic, yet in recent years our society has become more open to the idea that we need to talk about mental health and treat it like most other health issues. Over the past 3 years I've worked in underage drinking prevention and now am focused on peer support services and advocacy for mental health and disabilities. What I've seen both from my own personal experience and work with others, is that our view of mental health as a problem is what often makes it more difficult for others to deal with a diagnosis and maintain a healthy support system. In addition to that, our medical system is designed to focus on medication as a primary method of treatment and access to additional supports such as therapy and other preventive services is quite limited. Mental health parity is forging a way for those lucky enough to be insured, to seek care for mental health.

In the way of progress, we've seen in recent years a movement towards individuals diagnosed with a mental illness leading the recovery movement as peers who are trained to provide support to others. Movements like that led by actress Glenn Close to found Bring Change 2 Mind -which focuses on combating mental health stigma-have helped to bring to forefront the need to be open, accepting and embrace mental health as an issue that all should be supportive of. Yet, there is still much work to be done.



                                                                 

Mental health has been stigmatized through a long history of treating individuals with an illness by relegating them to institutions and deeming them unable to function as "normal" members of the community at large. However, after President Reagan shut down institutions in the 80's and through progressive movements to provide support and services that help integrate individuals into the community, we've come very far, with a long way to go. Although many people now are not permanently institutionalized, a large proportion are in jail -in many ways due to their mental illness- or are living off of social security disability benefits with a low likelihood of being "able" to work. Much of this may have to do with the way our system continues to "treat" individuals, the tendency to be on high dosages of medication that are often debilitating and a lack of encouragement towards the idea of recovery and self sufficiency.

There is hope. People in the media like The Kathleen Show who have promoted my writing on the Prevention Not Prescriptions Tuesday Blog, produced films like Side Effects with Katherine Heigl on the Pharmeceutical industry and talked about Depression, the word is getting out. The system is beginning to change, like here in Michigan where nearly 700 people have been trained and employed as Peer Support Specialists to promote recovery and systems transformation. Despite that, we continue to waste money through crisis intervention and treatment services as a primary mechanism under strict budget constraints. More efforts to continue finding ways of promoting recovery will prevent people with mental illness from relying on long term government support and ending up in jail or psychiatric treatment. What we must do-as with many of the issues I write about- is continue to challenge the system, fight for change and advocate for prevention. If we view this as a problem we'll make very little progress, but if we approach it as an opportunity to support the life journey of many -both with a diagnosis and in support of loved ones- we'll continue moving in the right direction. Take a moment to complete the survey below and comment with your feedback.