October is a big month for mental health, with multiple vital dates to raise awareness and push back on institutionalized stigma. It’s an excellent opportunity to show your support by creating a display in your public spaces or posting on your professional social media.
Looking for promotional content you can use to raise awareness, improve knowledge, and help eliminate the stigma against mental health?
You are in the right place. Our goal is to give you a starting place to complete materials that you can use to drive action in your community that will promote and protect mental health.
Potential display ideas and materials:
Depending on the timeline for your display, you may already have specific ideas in mind for content. As October is jam-packed with both Mental Health and greater Emotional Health (e.g. ADHD) events, it can be a lot to cover, but it is meaningful for kids and adults to feel seen – to make mental health a normal topic of discussion.
You may choose to use a series of flyers available for patrons to take – or perhaps display them on a cork board. We also recommend displaying books or other content that addresses these topics with your display, such as one of Maggie Bowyer’s collections of poetry.
Stigma is also a significant determinant of quality care and access to the full range of services required.
Professor Gabriel Ivbijaro MBE JP, World Foundation for Mental Health (WFMH) Secretary-General
For each day or event, there is a theme or tagline that you can base materials on – or you can leverage the materials that we’ve gathered below. We’ve also included background on organizations that play a central role in certain events.
Mental Illness Awareness Week
When? 10/1-10/7 (Sunday – Saturday)
Background and Information:
- Created by NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, but it has prominent local chapters as well (ex. NAMI Wisconsin)
- Theme: Together We Care, Together We Share
- This year’s focus is on the impact of NAMI’s support resources, which we (The Layered Onion) have extrapolated to support resources in general. It calls to mind the power of coming together in the community and the healing that it can bring.
Materials you can share:
- NAMI Support Groups
- Including the “Find the NAMI Connection support group nearest you” tool (if in WI, use this)
- Including the “Find the NAMI Family Support Group nearest you” tool (if in WI, use this)
- Including the “Find the NAMI Connection support group nearest you” tool (if in WI, use this)
- NAMI Teen and Young Adult HelpLine
- Graphics and Materials you can use:
- Social Media Posts:
- Under the theme Together We Care. Together We Share. NAMI (in partnership with Kohl’s Cares) has created various resources and materials, in both Spanish & English:
Additional Resources
Get involved! with NAMI
Without advocacy and anti-stigma efforts, access to care services becomes challenging.
Nassar Loza, President, World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH)
National Depression Screening Day
When? 10/5 (a Thursday)
Background and Information:
- A rough estimate puts *40 million adults* experiencing depression or anxiety in the United States. In the world – it is estimated to be *300 million adults.* No small number!
- Screenings play an important role in reducing stigma around getting checked for mental illness.
- Mental Health America (MHA) has several types of screening tools online that can be a great place to start a conversation – available in Spanish and English!
- Note that these do not offer a diagnosis, but rather give folks a starting point or additional information they can bring to discuss at an appointment with a doctor or therapist.
- This day was created in 1991 to highlight the importance of screening and bring awareness to its power as a tool for intervention.
- Studies have shown that positive screenings followed by mental health care significantly reduce the risk of suicide.
- The presence of a screening in a primary care visit normalizes talking about mental health. It also can help people understand what symptoms to look for and when to seek help.
- Studies have shown that positive screenings followed by mental health care significantly reduce the risk of suicide.
Materials and Graphics you can use:
Additional Resources:
- MHA’s National Depression Screening Day page
- Better Help’s Normalizing Self-Check-Ins For National Depression and Mental Health Screening Month
Investment and transformation in mental health is needed to help stop the widespread human rights violations that people with mental health conditions continue to experience worldwide.
Professor Gabriel Ivbijaro MBE JP, WFMH Secretary-General
World Mental Health Day
When? 10/10 (a Tuesday)
Background and Information:
- Theme: Mental Health is a universal human right.
- Sub-theme: Our health, our minds.
- Hashtag: #WorldMentalHealthDay
- The World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH), the organization behind World Mental Health Day (WMHD), was founded 75 years ago in 1948.
- The goal of the event is to empower grassroots advocacy for mental health and how it intersects with human rights.
- The first World Mental Health Day was October 10, 1992.
- The World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations (UN) join with WFMH to collaborate and bring awareness to this critical area of happiness and human rights.
Despite all efforts by the UN, WHO, WFMH, governments, institutions and other agencies, mental health discrimination, harmful stereotypes and stigma in the community, family, schools and the workplace still persist.
Professor Gabriel Ivbijaro MBE JP, WFMH Secretary-General
Opportunities to Participate:
- WFMH is sponsoring a couple of opportunities to engage with them:
- Express Through Art
- Encourage your patrons, guests, or customers to share their reflections on the theme and send them in here – or they can share on social media and tag the official account: @wfmhofficial.
- Express Through Art
Materials and Graphics you can use:
Additional Resources:
- More information: WHO’s campaign page
- 75 years of World Mental Health Day: more info
OCD Awareness Week
When? 10/8-10/14 (Sunday – Saturday)
Background and Information:
- Hashtag: #OCDweek
- OCD Awareness Week was launched in 2009 by the International OCD Foundation (IOCDF).
- IOCDF began in 1986 when a group of individuals with OCD gathered while enrolled in some of the first medication trials for OCD treatment. The organization has always been and will always be people-centered, focused on the importance of mutual support and community.
- The goal of the event is to raise understanding and awareness of what OCD is and how it affects people as an anxiety disorder that causes obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors.
Materials and Graphics you can use:
Additional Resources:
- International OCD Foundation’s OCD Week page
- https://www.rethink.org/get-involved/awareness-days-and-events/ocd-awareness-week/
Depression Awareness Month
When? All Month!
Background and Information:
- The goal is to improve general folks’ knowledge and understanding of depression and to address stereotypes and stigma
- Educational campaigns and interventions that target decreasing stigma and improved understanding of treatment can go a long way to acceptance and helping people with depression feel understood and loved
Materials and Graphics you can use:
- From the National Institute of Mental Health: https://www.nimh.nih.gov/get-involved/digital-shareables/shareable-resources-on-depression (includes graphics in Spanish!)
Additional Resources:
- Medical News Today on October
- MHA’s National Depression Screening Day page
- Better Help’s Normalizing Self-Check-Ins For National Depression and Mental Health Screening Month
- NAMI’s blog on What People Get Wrong About Depression
The best way to change someone’s views about ADHD is to let them know: it’s not about somebody else, it’s about someone they know!
ADHD Awareness Month
When? All month!
Background and Information:
- Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD) was founded in 1987 as a response to feelings of frustration and isolation experienced by parents of and children with ADHD.
- At the time – kids could be considered “not smart enough,” or “unmotivated,” or be told they had “behavior problems.”
- Misunderstanding and misinformation was circulating and there was a gap in education for teachers and clinicians.
- ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting 11% of school-age kids – symptoms follow 3/4 into adulthood
- While common, it is still often misunderstood today.
- The goal of ADHD Awareness Month is to address misunderstandings and highlight lived, shared experience of the community.
- This year (2023) the movement is going global! ? ?
- There will be expert-created information shared daily in October in different formats:
- Q&A, videos, transcriptions, infographics
- Each week will focus on a new topic – bringing us knowledge in bite-sized pieces!
- There will be expert-created information shared daily in October in different formats:
Opportunities to Participate:
- Express Yourself – Share Your Art, Stories, and Memes
- The best way to change someone’s views about ADHD is to let them know: it’s not about somebody else, it’s about someone they know!
- Share your experience and perspective here!
Materials and Graphics you can use:
Additional Resources:
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Thank you for joining together with us to spread the word! Your support means everything and is helping to make the world a safer and more equitable place for those living with mental and emotional health challenges.