Benefits of being a voting member of The World Federation For Mental Health

(Last Updated On: 19.09.2023)

The Great Push for Mental Health

The major themes of the Great

Push are Unity, Visibility, Rights, Recovery, and planning of

this program is now in progress.

  •  UNITY – Perceptions

    of disunity in the mental health world, probably exaggerated

    need to be dispelled. The first round of the WFMH Great

    Global Consensus has demonstrated substantial agreement on

    fundamental issues with over 530 replies from organisations

    and individuals demonstrating over 95% agreement on the 10

    principles of the World Federation The second round is in

    preparation and will address the inclusion of mental health

    as one of the Millennium Goals. The Consensus is designed to

    culminate in a WFMH/MGMH Consensus Summit” where

    participating organisations will be invited to fund one

    representative to the Summit at which the Consensus will

    form the basis of a WFMH /MGMH “Charter” to the United

    Nations and Governments stating clearly what mental health

    related and consumer/users/survivor organisations around the

    world require governments to do to improve mental health.

  • VISIBILITY- Mental illness

    and the mentally ill are invisible but stigma is everywhere.

    Our support for mental health must be made visible to

    governments. How can that be achieved but by public events?

    We will encourage organised parades, rallies and parties

    starting on World Mental Health Day (October 10, 2011),

    involving consumers and their families marching in public

    together with the support of mental health associations,

    professionals, academics, volunteers, managers of services

    and students! Countries will be encouraged to create and

    fund their own national parades. WFMH insures they happen

    together on World Mental Health Day. Parades should

    celebrate good mental health with celebrities and sports

    persons while calling for better awareness of, and services

    for mental illness. Parades should be attractive and

    entertaining for the general public while carrying a strong

    message. They could collect signatures to hand to

    governments with demands to do more for mental health both

    in their own country and abroad. Parades might continue year

    by year growing in strength and entertainment until a

    significant change in public opinion and government action

    is demonstrated. This is already happening in many places,

    particularly in India and in 2009 in Kalmunai, Sri Lanka,

    where nearly 5000 students, government and non-government

    sectors participated in a march two kilometres long. We need

    to be visible. They have shown us the way.

  • RIGHTS – Appalling

    conditions are tolerated in many mental hospitals and

    abusive treatments for mental illness are common.

    Governments must not be allowed to tolerate these

    conditions: There is clearly a strong grass roots need to

    bring together legal experts and existing organisations to

    collect evidence and to lobby governments to address these

    issues across the world and bring them to public attention.

    We proposed the setting up of a Centre for Mental Health and

    Human Rights to tackle such issues with governments.

  • RECOVERY -: is an

    important concept but the term is used in many different

    ways. WFMH will convene a conference to sharpen the concept

    and define its principal features. Meanwhile thousands,

    perhaps millions receive no mental health care because of

    the absence of professionals to assess and diagnose their

    illnesses, the first rate limiting step to recovery. We now

    have methods using computer technology able to empower

    nurses and health assistants, aimed at improving the

    detection, diagnosis and treatment of mental illness. We

    recognise that these are only the first steps to true

    recovery; nevertheless they are an essential starting point.

    Such methods are already being successfully piloted in

    India, Europe and Australia. They have potential to bring

    relief to the untreated. The campaign will promote any

    appropriate and culturally acceptable method for bringing

    relief to those suffering mental illness.

Some major activities that WFMH

is embarking on include:

  • The development of a

    grass-roots campaign so that mental health can have more

    visibility and priority in the public mind internationally;

  • Work with the Commonwealth

    Secretariat n anticipation of the UN Special Session on

    Non-Communicable Diseases scheduled for September, 2011;

  • Participation in the

    United Nations process to reformulate the Millennium

    Development Goals;

  • Developing strategic

    partners with international agencies and advocacy groups to

    promote the Great Push; and

  • Promotion of the Great

    Push using both traditional and social media.

The World Health Organization

has recently (September, 2010) released a report titled Mental

Health and Development which makes the case for the integration

of mental health in development efforts. Mental health is

intimately tied with key areas of development such as education

and human productivity. Our World Mental Health Day theme this

year underlines the relationship of mental health with chronic

physical illnesses. As we identify non-communicable diseases

like heart disease, diabetes, cancer and respiratory diseases as

the new scourge, the relationship to mental health is both

intimate and unavoidable. The bottom line is that there is no

health without mental health and that there is no development

without health AND mental health.