Residents of Muskoka-Parry Sound are marking the Canadian Mental Health Association’s annual Mental Health Week by having Barbeques and sharing resources for each of the CMHA Muskoka-Parry Sound offices in Bracebridge, Huntsville, Parry Sound and Sundridge. Visit mps.cmha.ca for more details.
This year, from May 6-12, the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) is asking all Canadians to “Get Loud” on social media and in their communities, workplaces and schools about what mental health really is, to clear up the difference between “mental health” and “mental illness” and suggest what good mental health looks like.
“So, what is mental health? Simply put, it is a state of well-being, and we all have it. We might have a mental illness, and we might not. Either way, we can all feel well. We can all feel good about ourselves, whatever life’s ups and downs,” says Executive Director Diane Brown-Demarco, CMHA Muskoka-Parry Sound Branch.
One in five Canadians experiences a mental health illness or problem every year, but all five in five of us have mental health, just like we all have physical health. When you look at all the official definitions out there across Canada and around the world, you find that there are six common features of good mental health: a sense of self, a sense of purpose, of belonging, contribution, enjoyment and resilience.
For this year’s Mental Health Week campaign, hosted at www.mentalhealthweek.ca, the CMHA created illustrations that reflect the real faces of Canada and describe the six features of good mental health in everyday language:
I don’t worry too much about what people think of me.
I feel like I’m reaching my potential.
I feel like I belong.
I make the world a better place.
I enjoy my life.
Knock me down and I’ll get back up again.
“Can you see yourself in these words? These six lines suggest in simple terms what we all want to have—for ourselves, our families and each other—to feel good,” says Diane Brown-Demarco CMHA Muskoka-Parry Sound Branch.
For more information about CMHA Mental Health Week, or for information or tools about your own mental health and how to celebrate, protect and promote it, visit www.mentalhealthweek.ca.
Mental Health Week was introduced by CMHA in 1951 and has since become a Canadian tradition.
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