Offering links to websites that provide information about various mental health problems, as well as having available resources for mental health practitioners can be a good first step toward destigmatizing mental health.
Mental Health awareness month is celebrated annually in May to highlight a specific area of concern internationally to raise awareness in mental health and eradicate stigma.
"Our people will be in the Tower Square food court in comfortable camp chairs, and anyone who's interested can sit down and start a conversation about mental health, emotional wellness, or whatever's on their mind". The two most commonly diagnosed disorders are depression and generalized anxiety.
"Epilepsy goes far beyond seizures", says researcher and post-doctoral candidate Klajdi Puka, who has been been following families who have children with epilepsy to see how it effects the mental health of the family unit. A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) finds North Dakota had the country's largest increase in suicide rates - 57% - between 1999 and 2016.
If you feel that you may be struggling with any mental illness then please seek help and reach out.
How do we end the stigma?
"It's very disheartening and disgusting that the provincial government tries to come across as being heroes of increasing funding for mental health, and in fact they are actually cutting services", said Tupker.
However, she says stigma on this issue and other mental health conditions is a big barrier. "We need to have more public discourse to dispel the myths about what mental health problems are and are not" states Dr. Joanne Barron Co-Founder of Trauma and Beyond.
In a statement to CBC, the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care did not address any plans to match the previous funding, but said it "made a promise during the election to make mental health a priority".
'The group risk industry is at the forefront of supporting mental health in the workplace, and the employers that utilise group protection to support the mental wellbeing of their staff are the winners.
I encourage everyone who reads this article to have at least one discussion about mental health with someone they care about during this month of mental health awareness.
