Mental Health in Focus in October
October will see World Mental Health Day and Mental Health Week in Western Australia.
2021 was a Challenging Year
2021 has posed new challenges for Australians. According to recent data from Smiling Mind, almost 1 in 5 faced poor mental health in the past 12 months (78%), and the state of the country’s mental health and wellbeing is at a worse position than the same time last year.
Young people have been particularly impacted by COVID-19. Over 40% of parents in Smiling Mind’s research indicated that COVID had taken a negative toll on the mental wellbeing of children. In schools, the latest funding round conducted by Schools Plus has seen student wellbeing emerge as a leading concern that help is being sought to address.
These pressures were recognised in the Productivity Commission’s report on Mental Health. Somewhat prior to the full impacts of COVID were felt, the Commission recommended that schools focus on improving student wellbeing and implement measures to monitor student wellbeing.
WA’s Mental Health Week runs October 9-16
Mental Health Week is coordinated by the Western Australian Association for Mental Health, with support from the WA Mental Health Commission.
Given how critical the early years are for lifelong brain development and functioning, learning, and wellbeing, the theme for Mental Health Week 2021 in Western Australia is “Mental health starts with our children”.
The theme recognises how a person’s mental health reflects the interaction of a lifetime of individual and lifestyle factors with a range of environmental, community and family risk factors.
… and World Mental Health Day is October 10
Sunday October 10 is World Mental Health Day.
World Mental Health Day is observed on 10 October every year, with the aim to raise awareness of mental health issues around the world and mobilise 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 reminds us to take time out to appreciate the value of mental health and invest in our wellbeing. This World Mental Health Day, there is a focus on scaling up mental health services to meet the increasing demand.
Take Time out for Mental Health Week and Mental Health Day
Mental health is a challenge that most of us will experience in our lifetime, either directly or amongst our friends and family.
There are many ways to take care of your own mental health:
- Schedule time for physical activity
- Do mindfulness or self awareness activities
- Catch up with friends
- Check in with someone you haven’t heard from
- Learn something new
- Help an older person in your life
Checking In
iyarn’s taking a unique approach to maintaining mental wellbeing through fast, powerful check ins.
Checking in with those around you can be extremely powerful. Make the most of Mental Health Month and start a conversation today.
Take the Check In
To help get you started, we’ve set up a quick ‘check in‘ for World Mental Health Day.
No login or signup is required and all data is anonymous:
This is a quick and basic example of a check in: as this check in is anonymous, some of iyarn’s strongest features are disabled.
iyarn: The App for Checking In
We’ve built iyarn to help you check in at school, at work or in your personal life. It’s a great way to do a check in and keep in touch with what really matters.
If you found the check in useful, additional features are available on iyarn once you’ve set up an account. These features including creating your own check ins, inviting others to complete a check in, saving your data and monitoring your results over time.
Simply define what matters to you or your contacts, and check in on those topics! Its easy to get started.
