There is a Worldwide Mental Health Pandemic! Take Action Now, #MentalHealthAction.

Last year me and A. Starr Group were honored to join MTV Entertainment Group to launch the first Mental Health Action Day. 

With over 1,400 partners and millions of individual participants in 32 countries, our presence was felt around the world as people, many for the first time, took actions to support their mental health.  

With feelings of loneliness on the rise and mental health issues affecting an ever greater portion of the population, we are calling for coordinated national actions to support anyone and everyone in getting support.

Mental Health Action Day is Thursday, May 19th, this year of 2022. 

GIF Credit: MTV Self-Care By INTO ACTION

The initiative aims to normalize conversation, create a connection to resources, and inspire action on mental health.

We will encourage and empower people to take mental health actions for themselves, for their loved ones, and/or for their community according to their personal preferences.

We will spread the message that we can take actions to improve our mental health just like our physical health in storytelling, media, and including music and entertainment. 

“The Mental Health Media Guide is a groundbreaking, comprehensive free resource for content creators designed to help expand positive mental health portrayals. The best practices and evidence-based recommendations within this interactive tool can support storytellers at any phase in the production process, across topics and with an e towards representing diverse communities.”

Mental Health Media Guide, 2022.

This year’s Mental Health Action Day theme is CONNECTION.

Human connection is important for mental health.

Studies demonstrate both the risks of social isolation and loneliness on mental health as well as the dire importance of human connection.

Low social connection is worse than smoking, obesity, and high blood pressure. Whereas, the benefits of social connection predicts:

• greater psychological well-being,
• better physical health,
• increased immunity,
• faster recovery from disease,
• longevity.

I encourage you to take #MentalHealthAction in whatever way feels right for you. 

Action can mean taking time to connect with yourself connecting with a neighbor, friend or family member, practicing yoga, meditation or other self-calming activities, finding a support group or therapist. Or it can mean taking an action to support systemic change that improves mental health access and equity, and improves our collective well-being.

The mental health challenges faced by this generation are so concerning that US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued a public health advisory on December 7, 2021 to address the “youth mental health crisis” exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic that has caused a 43% increase in loneliness among young people.

The latest initiative and partnership with MTV Entertainment Group and The White House is the first-ever Mental Health Action Youth Forum, which will be held in Washington, DC at The White House this upcoming May during Mental Health Awareness Month.

The White House, Washington, DC.

“Recent national surveys of young people have shown alarming

increases in the prevalence of certain mental health challenges—

in 2019, one in three high school students and half of female

students reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, an

overall increase of 40% from 2009.”

Vivek H. Murthy, M.D., M.B.A.
Vice Admiral, U.S. Public Health Service
Surgeon General of the United States

Mental Health is Health is an MTV Entertainment Group initiative rooted in the reality that we all have mental health and need to take care of it like we do our physical health.

For a resource designed to suggest a mental health action for you based on what your feeling or experiencing, visit: www.MentalHealthIsHealth.us

If you have concerns about your mental health or someone else’s mental health, please contact a medical professional or call 1-800-273-TALK(8255) for a free, confidential conversation.

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