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The worst problem you may have may be nothing to me, and mine may seem trivial to you, but by process of elimination they are the ones most deeply affecting that individual. Aside from eliminating the stigma, we need a change in the care and treatment of mental health, the system is a reactive one only when a problem has surfaced do we try to treat it. A more proactive, wellness, and healthy living approach is understood to improve issues before they become serious, many who suffer do not make it that far, or add stress to the overburdened health care system, and the economy causing increased emergency room visits, chronic physical health issues and more.

Mental Health Advocacy Can Make A Difference

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Page 1: Mental Health Advocacy Can Make A Difference

The worst problem you may have may be nothing to me, and mine may seem trivial to you, but by process of elimination they are the ones most deeply affecting that individual. Aside from eliminating the stigma, we need a change in the care and treatment of mental health, the system is a reactive one only when a problem has surfaced do we try to treat it. A more proactive, wellness, and healthy living approach is understood to improve issues before they become serious, many who suffer do not make it that far, or add stress to the overburdened health care system, and the economy causing increased emergency room visits, chronic physical health issues and more.

Page 2: Mental Health Advocacy Can Make A Difference

This can be directly related to; Women's Liberation, the Civil Rights Movement, and more recently the LGBT Movement all of which for some it was a matter of life and death. Changing people's minds about mental illness is a matter of life and death, mental illness does not play favorites, anyone can suffer from it, and people are dying every day. We see it in the news; Robin Williams, Heath Ledger, school shootings, but there are tens of thousands more that we don't hear about lonely ordinary people who quietly take their own lives because they cannot take feeling that way any longer. People call them cowards for taking the easy way out, but unless you can tell what is going on in someone else's mind from the outside you cannot imagine the pain inside or how hard they may be fighting just to breath in and out.

Page 3: Mental Health Advocacy Can Make A Difference

The world of mental health is changing for the better but the process is slow; too slow. What can be done to change the perceptions, the policies, and direction of mental healthcare? Many voices are working for change; bringchangetomind.org, the federal government, the World Health Organization are just a few. More voices need to take up the challenge; it starts with you and me. Worldwide there is more empathy for a broken finger than a dysfunctional mind, this spans the entire scope of mental illness from severe autism and schizophrenia to mild depression. The shift in thinking can only be changed if the person receiving it is willing to make the change, but that is a fundamental paradigm shift and people are slow to change.

Page 4: Mental Health Advocacy Can Make A Difference

Government and private industry policy create The Amazing You Review roadblocks to developing the kind of care system that would eliminate many deaths, build a well-adjusted, more productive society that will cost less to maintain. Many mental health care providers express frustration and concern over limited treatment policies aimed at eliminating the immediate danger and current symptoms, but not treating the illness or its causes. I want to join the murmuring voices pushing for change, and bring the whispers to a scream so to speak. I am in my spare time working to build an NPO that will address this topic, and lend a hand to the movement to take mental illness out of http://explorereading.net/the-amazing-you-program-review/ the dark and change the world. I may be naive but in the words of John Lennon "you may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one, I hope someday you will join us and the world will be as one."