World’s Largest Mental Health Lesson
I came across an article yesterday which was talking about the largest mental health lesson which took place at the Hackney Empire Theatre. The purpose of the even was to attempt to take away the stigma of mental health and begin a real dialogue about it. The attendees ranged in age from 13-18 years old from all across the UK.
I cannot emphasise enough the importance of such events. People learn to fear talking about mental health issues. These lessons are firs learned in our youth. Obviously, the fear comes from a lack of understanding when it comes to mental health issues.
The idea of normalising mental health discussion is something I have written about before. The battle cry, “there is no health without mental health” has been voiced in many places at many times. It is events like this which will give this message substance. The adult population can often learn from the young just as easily as the reverse. The young tend to have a more open attitude about many sociological issues compared to the generation before them. It is imperative that we teach our children well that mental health discussion and treatment is not a weakness, but rather a great strength.
