World Mental Health Day is October 10
There is seemingly a day for everything. National Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day, anyone? That’s the first Saturday in February. International Talk Like a Pirate Day is on September 19. Every math teacher’s favorite day is Pi Day – celebrated annually on March 14 (if you get it, you get it). Many of these are fun and frivolous; one that is not frivolous is World Mental Health Day on October 10.
The overall objective of World Mental Health Day is to raise awareness of mental health issues around the world and to mobilize efforts in support of mental health. The day provides an opportunity for all stakeholders working on mental health issues to talk about their work, and what more needs to be done to make mental health care a reality for people worldwide.
World Mental Health Day spotlights mental health education, awareness, and advocacy against social stigma. It was first celebrated in 1992 at the initiative of the World Federation for Mental Health, a global mental health organization with members and contacts in more than 150 countries. On this day, each October, thousands of supporters come to celebrate this annual awareness program to bring attention to mental illness and its major effects on people’s lives worldwide.
Recently, a team of health economists has been studying the costs of suicide and the return on investment of suicide prevention and intervention activities in workplaces and communities. They also determined that for every dollar invested in suicide prevention $4.60 would be returned to society. Another study measured several costs related to suicide and suicidal behaviors including production disturbance (e.g., the value of lost production and staff turnover), human capital loss, medical costs, administrative costs (e.g., due to employer investigation), and more.
Businesses should care and suicide prevention in the workplace is needed. Employee well-being has clear connections to greater employee engagement, proactive work behavior, and transformational leadership. Altogether, promoting protective factors, early intervention and effective suicide crisis response save companies money and heartache.
Locally, I am grateful for the leadership of organizations such as Vail Health’s Eagle Valley Behavioral Health. Eagle Valley Behavioral Health has partnered with over 25 local organizations including valley businesses, community groups, mental health providers, school districts, government entities, first responders, and communicators to collaborate on behavioral health initiatives and provide the critical change needed to ensure a long-term vision for a robust, sustainable behavioral health system to create resilience in our community and increasing overall well-being.
SpeakUp, ReachOut is another local nonprofit focused on mental health and improving our community. They work to prevent suicide in Eagle County through training, awareness, and hope. They provide suicide prevention, intervention, and loss support services to those in need.
Many private sector businesses are actively engaged in mental health programming. Vail Valley Partnership – through our Annual Success Awards – seeks to spotlight the individuals and organizations making a positive impact on our community. Some examples: Revolution Power Yoga is offering a donation-based class on October 10 with all proceeds will go to SpeakUp ReachOut, with all attendees will receive a signed copy of Julie Kiddoo’s book, Bye-Polar. Seagull’s Cycles encourages a clean healthy lifestyle by hosting a weekend group ride centered around abuse recovery. Venture Sports and many others have a similar ethos and promote numerous local nonprofit organizations.
World Mental Health Day might not be as “fun” to celebrate as some of the other days, but it is unarguably more important.
Chris Romer is president & CEO of Vail Valley Partnership, the regional chamber of commerce. Learn more at VailValleyPartnership.com