Better Mental Health
Our mental health is an essential resource for life and we need to meet people where they live their life. Mental Health Ireland want to support people to achieve a good level of mental health and wellbeing through promoting factors that protect our mental health and reducing the risk factors of poor mental health.
In order to achieve better mental health and wellbeing for all, we here at Mental Health Ireland, address our mental health promotion work at three levels:
Strengthening Individuals;
Strengthening Communities;
Reducing Structural Barriers;
We recognise that health, and in particular, mental health, is influenced by many different factors.
We want to strengthen our efforts to promote the protective factors, reduce the risk factors and prevent mental ill health of the nation to ensure a more flourishing society in years to come.
In our Schools
Mental Health Ireland supports best practice in mental health promotion and aim to align to, and strengthen the structures already in place in schools. In 2018, Mental Health Ireland were delighted to see excellent advancements in this area. The announcement saw the development of new wellbeing guidelines for the junior cycle, from the Department of Education and Skills and the release of a wellbeing policy for schools.
A national rollout of the MindOut training for the school setting followed the policy and guidelines to support its implementation.
The Mindout programme that was developed by the Health Promotion Research Centre at NUI Galway and the HSE’s Health Promotion and Improvement Department, has been proven to strengthen young peoples’ social and emotional coping skills and improve their overall mental health and wellbeing.
When promoting positive mental health and wellbeing at your school the evidence would suggest adopting a Whole Schools Approach. Some examples of initiatives your school could lead on include:
Five Ways to Wellbeing Challenge
Ask students and staff to take a different action area each day/week/month in the school. Encourage and facilitate students/staff to take ownership of what this might look like in your school setting. More information on what each action area looks like
You can order literature on the Five ways (Leaflet/bookmark) by contacting reception@mentalhealthireland.ie. There are lots of ideas within each action area that the students get involved with that will raise their awareness of mental health and also look after their own mental health.
School Notice Board
Students can highlight positive mental health messages across the school. Five Ways to Wellbeing, Healthy Eating messages, Anti Bullying. etc. It would be useful to include where to go should someone need support on all public displays – GP, Guidance counsellor, parent, YourMentalHealth.ie
Ensure all your policies in this area are up to date – i.e. Anti Bullying, Wellbeing policy. Should your school require outside agencies/experts to support in the learning, it is advised to follow best practice guidelines for visitors attending the school. Schools are advised that careful planning is essential in accessing external supports, particularly in relation to topics of a sensitive nature, such as mental health and suicide. Further info
Other awareness raising projects carried out at Mental Health Ireland can be found here
In our Workplaces
Workplaces are a key setting for promoting positive mental health. Traditionally, workplace health initiatives placed more emphasis on physical health and safety issues than on mental health. However, the workplace offers many advantages for promoting positive mental health and wellbeing.
Mental health promotion initiatives in the workplace usually focus on individual approaches such as stress management, skills training, and support; organisational approaches focusing on the work environment; and targeted interventions for those returning to work after an illness.
The impact unemployment, retirement and redundancy has a strong relationship with mental health problems and are associated with an increased risk of depression and suicide. The potential for negative effects increases with the duration of unemployment (Price and Kompier, 2006). Supporting employers and employees to manage stress associated with job role changes, organisational restructuring is a vital component of workplace health and wellbeing.
For more information on the training Mental Health Ireland can offer your workplace click the button below.
Workplace Training
In our Communities
The community is a recognised as a powerful setting to promote positive mental health and wellbeing because communities comprise of a range of organisations, groups and services each of which may provide potential for delivering mental health promotion across a wide range of population groups and settings. A community perspective recognises the important role that various organisations outside of the health sector can play in promoting positive mental health (Sheridan & McElhinney, 2016).
Communities can promote positive mental health and wellbeing through a number of different initiatives:
- Access to green open spaces to promote physical activity
- Social groups to promote social connections
- Arts and Creativity spaces/instalments in the community
Mental Health Ireland has a well-established profile in communities across Ireland through our network of Mental Health Associations and Development Officers. We have the flexibility to deliver tailored mental health promotion programmes within the community. Mental Health Ireland can facilitate communities to set the agenda for promoting their own mental health by helping them to identify their needs and to agree local priorities in addressing issues relating to mental health and wellbeing.
For information on the training Mental Health Ireland can offer your community click the button below.
Community Training
Subscribe To Mental Health Ireland
Subscribe now to get free resources from Mental Health Ireland, and stay informed about mental health and wellbeing updates, events and information. Don’t miss things!
Subscribe
”Mental health is fundamental to good health and quality of life, it is a resource for every-day life and it contributes to the functioning of individuals, families, communities and society.
Barry, 2009
”Mental health is fundamental to good health and quality of life, it is a resource for every-day life and it contributes to the functioning of individuals, families, communities and society.
Barry, 2009
