October 10 Is World Mental Health Day

World Mental Health Day, observed every year on October 10^th, is a global event aimed at raising awareness about mental health issues and mobilizing efforts to improve mental health care.

Everyone is impacted by mental health conditions-including friends, family members, coworkers and neighbors who don't live with a mental health condition themselves. But one in five adults in the U.S. experiences a mental health condition each year, making it clear how much mental health needs to be made a priority.

This year's theme for World Mental Health Day is 'It is Time to Prioritize Mental Health in the Workplace'.

In announcing this theme, Tsuyoshi Akiyama, President of the World Federation for Mental Health, wrote,

"Employed adults spend more time working than any other activity during their waking hours. In a myriad ways, and at its best, work can provide a livelihood and be a source of meaning, purpose, and joy. However, for too many people, work falls far short of its potential, failing to enhance our lives and detracting from our mental health and well-being in ways that result in excessive distress and mental ill health."

Mental health must be recognized as a basic human right that should be accessible to all.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has prepared a World Mental Health Day Toolkit including fact sheets, downloadable graphics, background information and ways to get involved.

NOW members know that mental health is an urgent problem that requires immediate attention. A report from the Urvashi Vaid National LGBTQ+ Women's Community Survey, named after the late lesbian activist, for example, finds that 22% of LGBTQ+ women respondents have attempted suicide, and 66% reported seeking treatment for trauma.

And for Black women, chronic stress and higher levels of lifetime exposure to trauma increase adverse health and mental health outcomes, with discrimination, racism, and inequities in the maternity care system leading to increased risk for maternal mental health disorders for Black women.

On this World Mental Health Day, we focus on the link between mental health and employment and raise awareness for the need to make mental health a priority in the workplace and everywhere else.