World Mental Health Day is celebrated globally on the 10th of October. For the year 2020, the theme for the annual marking focuses on greater investment for mental health, in a bid to ensure greater access to everyone everywhere.
7 Cups is a global online mental health platform and a community that focuses on accessible mental health support and awareness. With free online trained listeners, guided group discussions and forum-based subcommunities, to awareness through community questions and answers as well as expert insight - 7 Cups has invested into creating a safe place to advocate and support mental health.
The recent uncertainty we all have faced due to the coronavirus pandemic has helped us to realize the importance of mental health awareness and support - as well as investment. In this community article, several community administrators, as well as ambassadors, share their insight on how a greater investment is a key for greater accessibility.
Glen Moriarty - Founder, CEO
“Since being launched in 2013, 7 Cups has provided a platform to help connect anyone who needs emotional/mental health support to a trained active volunteer listener - we believe that one of the best ways to help ourselves is to help others. That is why investment in mental health can empower us to share our skills as well as resources to help develop accessible care and support. 7 Cups also offers accessible as well as affordable therapy - what we are aiming for is compassion on a global scale to use not only expert but humane means to destigmatize as well as support mental health.”
Heather225 - Community Director
“Mental health is as complex as it is underestimated. Chances are, if you do not struggle with some kind of mental health condition yourself, you know and love someone else who does. We are in a mental crisis now more than ever, given the many tragedies that have befallen us this year. It’s hard enough to get access to care, much less afford it. Mental health is treated as less critical than physical health, which is simply anything but. The more we can invest in mental health, the more people can speak openly about it, and the more it can be normalized. Healing cannot happen if there isn’t access to resources to get treatment. No one deserves to be in pain. No one deserves to suffer in silence. Everyone deserves the chance to achieve the highest quality of life possible. We cannot get there unless mental health starts getting taken seriously. My career is dedicated to this field, and as someone who witnesses the struggles in our community every day, I can guarantee you that it is serious, and it is not going away. On a global scale, we need to start listening and investing, so we can end the stigma and save lives.”
Lisa De Regt - Director of Clinical Operations
“World Mental Health Day is a day close to my heart. I always believe that we should have a place or someone that makes us feel supported and heard. At 7 Cups, I believe we have this place that makes us feel heard, a comforting home on the internet. You are each part of a wonderful and beautiful journey towards improving your own mental health and wellbeing. Mental health is extremely important for each one of us to have a content and happy life. Today I wish you a happy World Mental Health Day and I hope wherever you are that you can reach out if you never need someone to talk to.”
Laiba Jalil - Community Manager
“Mental Health Support is a basic human need. If we are not mentally well, little else seems to matter. I am glad that the world is finally starting to see the importance and need for adequate mental health support. I believe all individuals should have access to services that allow them to better care for themselves. It is not a luxury, it is a necessity. Like any field, mental health needs an investment of resources, time and energy. Nothing worth having comes easy. Any investment that you make whether that is money or your time, it gets us closer to providing mental health support to everyone.”
Sage - Community Moderator
“We all have mental health - it is a part of all of us, one that shouldn’t be ignored. A healthy mind leads to a healthy body - the mind is the key.”
Robin - Community Moderator
“The beauty of having a day focused on “Mental Wellbeing” is that it reignites conversation on the importance of bettering ourselves and strengthening our minds and hearts. While recognizing and acknowledging community mental health concerns is massively important, it is time we focus the spotlight on another hidden, yet important factor.
From a compassionate counsellor, empathetic support worker, to a diligent licensed Therapist and dedicated clinical psychologist, these extraordinary humans have committed to fulfilling a duty of care towards helping those in need. Despite the many rewarding motivators to their profession, they’re faced with the very real challenges of overextending themselves and compromising their own mental wellbeing. Formally, this is described as “The cost of caring”. We must mark this day towards raising awareness on Compassion Fatigue, Vicarious Trauma, and Burnouts.
Compassion that does not include one’s self is incomplete. More emphasis is needed on the keys to preventing secondary trauma, cultivating resilience/empowerment, promoting genuine self-care and practicing ways to set emotional boundaries in hopes of sustaining and supporting those who have set foot in the Mental Health Industry, including our valued Active Listeners.
In light of this year’s theme, I close this message by saying – The act of investing does not necessarily have to involve funding the Mental Health Industry. Investing can be described as the act of putting into something; whether it be through one’s time, energy, thought, efforts, reflection, planning, intervening, preventing, and so on. If we collectively work towards investing in areas of Mental Health to the best of our capacities and extents, we would all be contributing to greater promotion, awareness, and access within our social circles. Let us start with a small investment of our good wishes and pure feelings towards bettering the overall wellness of our home – Our Plant, Earth.”
EvelyneRose - Quality Specialist
“Mental health deserves greater investment because we all deserve to be our best selves and get the help we need. Sometimes all it takes is one person to change your life. If we invest in mental health, we can reach people everywhere- no matter their economic level or physical location.”
SoulfullyAButterfly - Programs Coordinator
“Mental health is crucial to our well-being. As a mental health advocate, I think investing our time to raise awareness or share honest conversations in regards to mental health is as important as investing in other forms to aid support and development of mental health care. We all can lead change by taking smaller steps to help destigmatize mental health and raise awareness as well as support. 7 Cups is a community that has proved the power of listening. It is our investment that normalizes an acceptance about the importance of mental health and launches a wave of support leading to greater access to mental health.”
SoulSings - Ambassador
“Mental health is the silent problem that people do not always talk about. The biggest enemy of getting mental health support is the stigma that people feel about admitting to the challenges they face. While physical health is well supported, the cause of many physical illnesses, mental illness, is often ignored or considered less important. 7 Cups provides good peer to peer support, but often more professional help is required to tackle the challenges people face.
Good mental health leads to good physical health. Supporting and funding mental health is an essential part of our wellness, so this month and all through the year, let us do what we can to help start the conversation to end the stigma about this important health issue. It is time for all of our health needs to start receiving the attention and support it deserves.”
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For more support, join an empathetic community, chat with a free, trained listener, or start affordable online therapy today.