Mental Health Promotion
Pai te Hinengaro Pai te Ora
Mental health promotion seeks to improve the mental health and wellbeing of populations by addressing determinants of mental health. Interventions focus on strengthening protective factors for mental health and reducing risk factors at an individual, organisational, community, structural and policy level.
Mental health promotion includes:
- Promoting positive mental health among the general population, and particularly among those people who are most disadvantaged
- Ensuring that people with experience of mental illness have the same opportunities as everyone else to fully participate in society and everyday life
- Suicide prevention
Good mental health is fundamental to the wellbeing and effective functioning of individuals, communities and society as a whole. It provides individuals with the ability to make a contribution to their community, achieve goals, cope with the normal stresses of life and interact with others.
Public Health South’s mental health promotion programme aims to:
Reduce stigma and discrimination
Stigma and discrimination are barriers to recovery for people experiencing mental illness – often preventing people experiencing mental health problems from seeking help.
Reduce the incidence of violence
Violence is a key determinant of mental health and includes bullying, family violence and community violence.
Increase resilience and social connectedness
Resilience refers to people’s ability to cope with stress and adverse life events, and is well known to be a protective factor for mental health problems. Social connectedness affects mental health and physical health and is important both for individuals and communities.
Prevent suicide and self-harm
Community-level suicide prevention includes activities such as mental health awareness campaigns, encouraging appropriate media reporting of suicide and advocacy for restricting access to means of suicide.
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