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Promotion of mental health
Mental health promotion is any activity or action that strengthens or protects the mental health and well-being of individuals
Mental health promotion can:
- Strengthen individuals: by increasing emotional resilience through interventions designed to promote self-esteem, life and coping skills and promote the maintenance or promotion of relationships;
- Strengthen communities: by increasing social inclusion and participation, improving neighbourhood environments, developing a range of interventions which support mental health for people of all ages, including community safety measures and self-help networks.
- Reduce ‘structural barriers’ to mental health: by tackling societal structures through initiatives to reduce discrimination and inequalities and to promote access to education, housing, services and support for those who are vulnerable (Mentality, 2001).
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Promotion of mental health
As has been made clear by the model explored earlier, effective promotion of older people’s mental health requires action across all of these different areas.
There are also a number of things individuals of any age can do to help sustain their mental health:
- making time to do the things they enjoy
- taking moderate exercise
- cutting down on coffee, tea, alcohol and smoking
- celebrating the good things about ourselves
- keeping things in perspective
- developing and sustaining friendships
- listening to and respecting other people
- asking for help if we feel distressed or upset
- taking as much care of ourselves as the people we care for (Mental Health Foundation, 2003)
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Promotion of mental health
It is the extent to which the losses that accompany old age limit opportunities that represent the greatest risk to mental health. Conversely interventions that are geared towards reducing such threats to quality of life are likely to support mental health and promote well-being in later life (Godfrey and Denby, 2004).
These messages are as relevant to service settings as they are for community based individuals. Services can for example offer exercise classes, ensure that users are listened to and encourage people to take part in social activities.
This concludes this learning object. If there are any sections of the learning object you have not explored yet return to the Start page to have a look at these sections now. If there is anything that did not seem clear, you might also find it helpful to return to that section and repeat the activity - sometimes things make more sense the second or even third time around.
There is also a full list of references at the end of this learning object, which might give you ideas for further reading. This can be accessed from the Start page.