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WFMH’s International Agenda
Goal One
Public Education
To heighten public awareness about the importance of mental health,
and to gain understanding and improve attitudes about mental disorders.
World Mental Health Day
In 2001 the Federation continued its two-year
international public education campaign on “Mental Health and Work,” while
beginning preparations for a new campaign in 2002 on the
effects of trauma and violence on children
and adolescents. This program is one of WFMH’s major activities,
with outreach to many countries. Its goal is to encourage
national and local
organizers, ranging from government departments to grassroots
activists, to plan public education programs on selected
themes in mental health.
For some of the largest national campaigns preparations are year-round,
with the focus shifting to a new topic almost as soon as the current
year’s events have taken place. Many campaigns are not confined to one
day, and cover a week of events or are spread out over a longer period
with World Mental Health Day (10 October) as a central point.
The “Mental Health and Work” campaign was
developed over two years to accommodate an exceptionally
complex subject which affects the everyday
life of many individuals and families. The subject attracted
an unusual degree of interest. The campaign was launched
at the headquarters of
the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Geneva on
10 October 2000 with a joint ILO-WHO-WFMH symposium, which
followed an international
conference on the theme. Local organizers arranged many events
around the world that month to examine issues connected
with the workplace. These activities recognized that the ways in which
work is
organized
can contribute to varying degrees of stress or to well-being,
and also that access to work is a major issue for many
people who have experienced
mental disorders.
Patt Franciosi
Chair of World Mental Health Day
The Federation’s Secretariat prepared a second planning kit with new
material in 2001 to encourage a fresh round of public awareness activities.
Deborah Maguire directed the writing team, with Board member Patt Franciosi
serving as chairperson for the campaign. Many local organizers found
the two-year span was helpful in deepening their programs and addressed
diverse topics related to the World Mental Health Day theme throughout
the year. In Egypt, for example, WFMH’s outgoing President Ahmed El Azayem
led an effort to attract attention to the problems of working children
during 2001. In Hong Kong, Deborah Wan of the New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation
Association chaired an expanded campaign involving many other organizations.
In Uruguay, Board member Paulo Alterwain arranged a continuing program
on the problems faced by those working in health, education and the law
during a period of great economic difficulty.
Paulo Alterwain & Eugene Brody
Spoke at a World Mental Health Day program at the Pan American Health Organization
Dr. Alterwain was invited to give an address on South American issues
at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in Washington, D.C., on
10 October 2001 for World Mental Health Day. Former WFMH Secretary General
Eugene B. Brody also spoke about the long history of the Federation’s
connections with PAHO, including some surprisingly early instances of
workplace concerns in the Caribbean. The core of this program, however,
was a speech by PAHO’s director George Alleyne about the effect on his
international staff of the September 11 events. He realized that his
organization had urgent workplace concerns of its own to examine in line
with the theme for the Day, and spoke also about the impact of September
11 on the families of his staff, particularly children.
back to 2001 Annual Report
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