Although there were representatives from various media agencies at the event, their coverage was limited. The event, the National Conference on Mental Health, was the platform used by President Obama to unveil his administration's initiatives to reduce the stigma of mental illness, increase discussion and awareness of mental illness, stimulate a national discussion on mental health and announce the launch of a new website, mentalhealth.gov.
The significance of this event will be measured by the national response to the initiatives and changes in our attitudes regarding mental health. This event highlighted the dozens of commitments made by organizations representing media, educators, health-care providers, faith communities, and foundations to increase the understanding and awareness of mental health.
The administration recognized private and nonprofit commitments in five key areas:
Also, new efforts will be launched to raise public awareness through television, radio, social-media campaigns and other platforms.
The government's commitments include:
Media and social media:
The National Association of Broadcasters is creating a national public-service campaign.
Blue Star Families is producing a second series of public-service announcements titled "This Country Cares.
MTV and The Jed Foundation will promote help seeking and challenging the stigma surrounding mental health by encouraging members of MTV's audience to take any action that supports their or a friend's emotional health.
The Entertainment Software Association and leading video-game companies Activision Blizzard Inc., Activision Publishing Inc., Bethesda Softworks, Blizzard Entertainment Inc., and Microsoft Corp. will promote consumer resources for mental health and wellness.
Entertainment Industries Council, Facebook, Google, SchoolTube and Twitter will help to raise awareness through television, film and social media.
Teaching students about mental health and helping adults who work with children to recognize the early signs of mental-health problems and refer kids to treatment.
Commitments were made by the National Association of Secondary School Principals, National Parent Teacher Association, National Association of School Psychologists, National Association of School Nurses, YMCA of the USA, American Psychological Association, American Council on Education, American Federation of Teachers, American School Counselor Association, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, NASPA - Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, National Education Association, National Panhellenic Conference, North American Interfraternity Conference, School Social Work Association of America, and Skype in the classroom.
Giving health-care providers the tools they need to screen for mental-health problems and encouraging them to lead efforts to raise awareness in their communities.
The American Medical Association and American Psychiatric Association are partnering to share educational materials developed by the APA to help physicians in all specialties better integrate mental-health screenings into their practices, reduce misconceptions of mental illness, and direct patients to additional mental-health services when needed.
The National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems is developing and sharing with its members materials that encourage them to promote access to mental-health services and work in their hospital systems to decrease misconceptions about mental illness.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Hospital Association, the American Psychological Association, the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Children's Hospital Association, the Federation of American Hospitals, the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, and the National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems have committed to share information to their members or encourage them to lead new conversations in their communities.
Convening experts, philanthropic and civic leaders to identify innovative ways to reduce negative attitudes and perceptions about mental illness and improve access to treatment at the local level.
Community conversations moderated by trained, neutral facilitators to discuss how to raise awareness of mental health and make sure others in their communities get the help they need.
Give an Hour, America's Promise Alliance, the Aspen Institute, the Case Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative will collaborate to identify successful community-based models of prevention and intervention that have been shown to improve mental health and psychological well-being, and develop a comprehensive strategy for broader adoption of these effective models.
Launching new conversations in our houses of worship and other faith-based institutions to help people recognize mental-health problems and access the treatment they need.
Faith groups from across the country have committed to launch new conversations on mental health by taking steps such as:
Including a message about mental health in a worship service or other event, and providing their congregations with bulletin inserts on mental-health issues.
Developing and sharing tool kits with resources such as discussion starters to help members continue the conversation about mental health outside of worship services.
Organizing a session on mental-health awareness at an upcoming national conference.
More information about the June 3 conference can be found at mentalhealth.gov. The MHA is pleased with the new and expanded efforts identified at this conference. We believe now is the time to make great strides in eradicating mental-health stigma and promoting wellness and recovery.
My next column will present a brief look at the federal legislative bills supporting this work.
Heller is executive director of the Mental Health Association of Lebanon County. His column appears every other week.