Youth roll out mental illness stigma-busting plan
If you wanted to figure out a way to remove the stigma from mental illness, where would you turn to for advice? Why not to the real experts—people with mental illness who have experienced that stigma themselves?
It was that kind of outside-the-box thinking that led to a unique research partnership between The Provincial Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health at CHEO (the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario) and YouthNet (a mental health promotion and intervention program run by youth, for youth, in the Ottawa area). YouthNet agreed to host a youth forum to obtain input from youth living with mental illness. The forum included a brainstorming session in which participants were asked to come up with fresh ideas for combating the stigma associated with mental illness. Here are some of the suggestions and recommendations that came out of the forum—ideas that are definitely worth repeating and passing along.
Teach kids about mental illness at school. Children and youth would be less afraid of mental illness and less likely to stigmatize people with mental illness if they learned more about the various types of mental illnesses and how these illnesses affect the lives of real people. The youth who participated in the forum felt that age-appropriate mental health educational programs should be offered in schools, starting at the kindergarten level. Students would be taught to accept differences and not to judge others; that you can't see all differences in people; and that having a mental illness is not a person's fault. During the middle school and high school years, students would have the opportunity to have contact with representatives from the mental health community. Parents would also benefit from participation in separate educational sessions designed to teach them about youth mental health issues.
Find a spokesperson for mental illness that kids will listen to and respect. Having a successful person (ideally a young person) functioning as a spokesperson would help young people to realize that mental illness is something you live with like any other type of disease.
Partner with a "respectable" or credible company to produce a campaign that will let kids know that people with mental illness are still just people living with an illness. Choosing the right partner (e.g., a clothing or music retailer/manufacturer or other company with high youth-appeal) will make the message more credible.
You can find out more about this innovative project by visiting the Stigma section of the Provincial Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health at CHEO website: HYPERLINK "http://www.onthepoint.ca/stigma/stigma.htm" http://www.onthepoint.ca/stigma/stigma.htm.
Related:
Mind Your Mind HYPERLINK "http://www.mindyourmind.ca" www.mindyourmind.ca
Mind Your Mind is an award winning site for youth by youth, committed to reducing the stigma often associated with reaching out for help.
• Ann Douglas is the author of The Mother of All Pregnancy Books and numerous other books about pregnancy and parenting. Join in the conversation at her brand new blog at HYPERLINK "http://thestar.blogs.com/anndouglas" http://thestar.blogs.com/anndouglas.
