Stigma why do we have to address this?
Stigma is a huge barrier to early help-seeking behaviour with emotional problems. It is important to start early, to educate children about mental health and mental illness, and to assimilate concepts of mental health and mental illness early and repetitively. If we teach our children to be comfortable with the language of mental health, mental health discussions will be as commonplace as those about nutrition, lung, or cardiovascular health. Children will see mental health as an important part of general health, eliminating the dichotomy between physical and mental health.
Equally important, is to increase children’s’ comfort level talking about mental health. Those who experience emotional problems or mental illness will not only be able to recognize when they themselves should seek help from a trusted adult, but also they will be more apt to talk to their friends about it, and their friends will more likely adopt a non-judgmental or non-discriminatory behaviour towards those who suffer. Youth will grow up experiencing first-hand that those who suffer from mental illness are our mothers, our friends, our colleagues; that it is an illness; that they are not weird; and few are truly as dangerous as portrayed often in the media. Childrens’ attitudes will change towards compassion, which in turn will further break barriers and encourage people to come forth.