Prioritizing mental health is one of Gordon McInally’s initiatives as Rotary president this year. Throughout his term, McInally is focusing on erasing the stigma associated with emotional well-being, raising awareness of mental health needs, and improving access to preventive and interventional mental health services.
This focus on mental health is timely worldwide. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic emergency, a silent crisis has unfolded around the issue. The isolation stemming from lockdowns and other changes that kept people apart, the loss of loved ones, and the uprooting of social networks have all taken a toll on many people’s mental well-being.
Experts agree that mental and emotional health are essential to overall wellness. These factors can affect people’s physical health as well as how they relate to their friends, family, and community.
The World Health Organization, which designates 10 October as World Mental Health Day, puts it this way: “Mental health is a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realize their abilities, learn well and work well, and contribute to their community. It is an integral component of health and well-being that underpins our individual and collective abilities to make decisions, build relations, and shape the world as we live in it. Mental health is a basic human right. And it is crucial to personal, community, and socioeconomic development.”
One in 8 people worldwide, or 970 million people, live with significant mental health conditions, according to WHO. Adequate resources to prevent and treat these conditions aren’t reliably available in all parts of the world, and in low- and middle-income countries, up to 85 percent of people with some mental health conditions receive no treatment.
WHO has also compiled research that shows people with mental health issues can be more likely to have other health conditions. For example, having depression can predispose someone to having diabetes or a heart attack. Similarly, living with a chronic disease or experiencing a significant health challenge can put someone at a higher risk of developing depression.
A person’s circumstances also can be a factor. Poverty, violence, disability, and inequality can put people at a higher risk for mental health issues. A lack of adequate support or resources to address these issues can destabilize families and disengage people from their communities. These interconnected factors illustrate the need to discuss mental health on a global level and to remedy the gaps in support.
Everyone in Rotary has a role in this effort. Members don’t need to be mental health professionals to make a positive difference. They can treat others with care, respect, and dignity. They can ensure that people feel valued through a smile, a phone call, a visit, or another caring gesture. They can talk openly about mental health, let people know they’re not alone, and encourage them to get treatment if necessary. By putting a greater focus on emotional well-being throughout the world, Rotarians and Rotaractors can make an incredible impact.
Visit
rotary.org/initiatives23-24 to learn more about this effort and find ideas for how your club or district can support activities that encourage mental well-being.
The World Health Organization designates 10 October as World Mental Health Day, and with Rotary placing a special focus on mental health this year, I would like to help answer the question posed to me most often when I travel to meet members: How can my club get started?
There are some wonderful examples of Rotary members taking action already. In the Philippines, the Rotary Club of Tiaong-Hiyas held a 12-week health challenge for mothers in the community to promote some baseline health screenings and coaching on a healthier lifestyle.
By the end of the challenge, the mothers had a special bond and decided to form a Rotary Community Corps called Ilaw ng Tahanan (“one who lights up the home”) with the goal of involving more mothers in health education and wellness support — and later youth services, teen pregnancy prevention, and help with unhealthy substance use. Almost a year later, the RCC is preparing to open its own health center where mothers can come for peer-to-peer support.
Another strong example is in Colorado. In the fall of 2021, a small group of stakeholders from the Rotary Club of Highlands Ranch formed the Rotary Clubs of Colorado Endowed Fellowship for Pediatric Mental Health, which enhances the ability of Children’s Hospital Colorado to recruit and train pediatric psychiatry providers and allows the hospital network to make additional appointments. This increases access to mental health care for children and decreases provider shortages.
Since then, the project has brought on new supporters and is now fully funded with a $500,000 endowment. Investment income from this endowment will support a fellow — a psychologist or psychiatrist — at Children’s Hospital. A new fellow will be named every one to two years, beginning spring of 2024. Over time this will create a cohort to bolster the mental health workforce, treating kids from all 64 Colorado counties and neighboring states.
There are many more great mental health project stories on Rotary Showcase, and I invite you to share your experiences as you begin your own projects. Also, please reach out to mindhealth@rotary.org with any thoughts or ideas you would like to share about mental health in the Rotary world.
On 10 October, I will host a Facebook Live event when we will recognize World Mental Health Day and further explore how Rotary members can begin this journey. But I would like to leave you with one way every Rotary member can make a difference.
Right now, there is someone you know in the Rotary world — in your club, from a project you’ve worked on, in a Rotary Fellowship or Rotary Action Group — who could use a little more of your time and attention. Rotary is this great gift of global friendship, and that also means being there for each other.
Discovering the human connections that bind us is what we do through our membership every day. It’s what Rotary has always been about, and we can build on it by helping each other find peace at home.
We need to learn how to ask not just “How are you?” but also “How are you really?” By doing so, Rotary can continue to Create Hope in the World.
- R. Gordon R. McInally, Rotary International President 2023-2024
