Mental health is a fundamental component of overall health and wellbeing. It affects how we think, feel and behave, influencing our daily lives, relationships and our ability to cope with stress and face challenges. October 10th is World Mental Health Day, established in 1992 by the World Federation for Mental Health to raise global awareness about critical mental health agendas.
This year’s official theme concerns Mental Health at Work: It’s time to prioritize mental health in the workplace. Safe and supportive work environments can play a crucial role in safeguarding mental health. However, negative factors like stigma, discrimination, harassment and poor working conditions pose significant threats, impacting participation and productivity at work, mental wellbeing and overall quality of life. As the EU employment rate is rising and is now over 75%, it is imperative to take action to minimize these risks, foster mental health and create a healthy work environment.
A part of the work on Health in all Policies in JA PreventNCD focuses on Mental Health in All Policies (MHiAP), an approach to promoting population mental health and wellbeing by initiating and facilitating action within different non-health public policy areas. The aim is to present recommendations for Member States regarding MHiAP as a useful tool to promote mental health and wellbeing at different levels of governance. A survey has been sent out to map the inclusion of mental health and wellbeing in health and non-health policies at national and regional level. Data collection is underway with emphasis on identifying good practices of mental health promotion at policy level across sectors in participating countries.
Examples of mental health promoting policies in the Employment sector are policies affecting flexible working hours, a work-life balance, parental leave and vacation time. Another example could be the implementation of wellness programmes that include stress management workshops, physical activities and mental health days. But policies across other sectors affect people in the workplace as well. Policies ensuring accessible and affordable public transportation, reducing commute stress. Policies ensuring access to quality nutrition, policies improving insurance coverage for mental health services, policies supporting mental health professionals to maintain their own mental health and so on.
Mental health stigma can be a significant barrier to creating a supportive work environment. On World Mental Health Day, DG SANTE, the WHO and Mental Health Europe have jointly organised a Webinar on stigma related to mental health where the European Commission will present the EU support package on stigma next to the WHO toolkit on stigma. This work will complement and support the JA PreventNCD activities on mental health stigma which will be aimed at combatting stigma at structural level.
JA PreventNCD is also collaborating with and following the work of the Joint Action Mental Health Together (JA MENTOR) which has just started up, to ensure synergies and make sure the work is complementary.
Author: Sólrún Ósk Lárusdóttir, Directorate of Health, Iceland. Sólrún leads task 9.2: Developing effective ways to implement Mental Health in All Policies (MiAP) as part of JA PreventNDC.