Something happens every day in each person’s life that they find hard to cope with.
Hardships do not make us weak but only human. They also remind us that being able to take care of ourselves and others’ mental health.
When it comes to mental health, awareness is the first step to talk about it. You might already be wondering – how to be a mental health advocate?
Read on to know more about how you can make a difference in society.
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What is a Mental Health Advocate?
Being an advocate for mental health means that you support the issue wholeheartedly and work towards more awareness.
You do not require a degree, just a lot of dedication to making this world for all those who suffer trouble with their mental health. This means that you have to continually expand your knowledge about mental health, enable conversations about the subject, inform others, help people navigate their issues, etc.
Advocating for mental health is not easy work, so here is a list of all the things you can do to become a mental health advocate and understand what a mental health advocate does.
Keep yourself informed
Mental health and human psychology are subjects that came to mainstream academia’s attention much later than many other topics that you might be familiar with, which means that it still has many scopes. You need to keep yourself informed as much as possible if you want to be a thought leader.
Wishing to help people comes with many responsibilities, and you cannot carry out any duties without the appropriate amount of knowledge.
Amplify the message
A huge part of how to become a mental health advocate is creating awareness about the issue. It would be best to amplify your thoughts, what you want to say, and give information full of value through whichever medium you choose.
There are many ways to do that offline, like street plays, articles, and newspaper reports highlighting mental health’s importance. You can also create things like newsletters and podcasts to inform more people.
Have social media presence
Social media is a tool that cannot be undermined and should be taken full advantage of for a cause like mental health awareness. Everyone uses social media, and there’s no better way of talking to such a diverse audience at once.
You can use social media to generate informative content, share other creators’ content, and even find resources to share with your followers.
Gather like-minded people
You can achieve more with teamwork. The same goes for this situation as well. In a team of people who have the same aspirations, goals and share the same values, you get to learn a lot more than you would go on your own.
Not just that, a group of like-minded people are a great source of inspiration. With more advocates working together, there’s also definitely a higher chance of more significant impact.
Make a democratic space
Everyone suffers from mental health issues, but more often than not, the topic is only spoken of and with privileged people of society.
Left behind are the people who don’t have the means to know anything about the issue, let alone do anything about it. That’s why mental health must be treated as a problem that plagues everyone. Problem-solving, too, should be done in ways that are inclusive and catering to everyone.
People are often dealt with differently in the mental health sector because of pre-existing stigmas in society, such as homophobia, patriarchy, misogyny, and even difference in political opinions.
Everyone deserves a safe space regardless of all the factors that personally affect your ideologies.
Find and Generate Resources
Many find professional help for mental health the most expensive and inaccessible. Many times, you cannot help, and a person will need a professional. However, online therapy is much more feasible than offline ones (BetterHelp.com is one of those websites that provide excellent therapy).
You can find any organizations that provide funds for these issues or provide free counseling, medication, have financial programs, etc.
You can also form an organization of your own that generates funds for the cause or gather a group of professionals for the same.
Final Thoughts
Did this article help you discover how to be a mental health advocate? These are some of the things that can help you become one, so you can make a difference in society.
But you have to remember that being an advocate is not about just the title; in this case, you are what you do. So, you have to put all of your energy into your work and help people.
This is not an easy task because your health will get affected, so it is essential to take care of yourself too. This is also a job where you have to know why you’re doing it, not to lose sight and perspective of what you want to achieve.
