Bringing the issue closer to the public, talking about it in positive terms and reducing the stigma surrounding it is the aim set by the Gran Canaria Island Psychosocial Rehabilitation Programme to mark World Mental Health Day.
The event was marked by an exhibition along the Las Canteras promenade showcasing the services involved in psychosocial rehabilitation for people with severe mental health conditions, as well as therapies, such as art therapy, that help to improve the wellbeing of the programme’s participants on the island, who number over a thousand, according to Isabel Mena, Gran Canaria’s Regional Minister for Diversity.
The director of the Island Psychosocial Rehabilitation Programme, Rafael García, told journalists that this organisation is responsible for coordinating health and social care resources, as well as the companies that provide these services.
Gran Canaria: Programme brings together support for mental health conditions
This commemorative event, which has been held for 19 years, «aims to discuss mental health in a positive light, raise public awareness of the issue and highlight the importance of protecting, nurturing and safeguarding good mental health».
García has called for these issues to be tackled «from a perspective of normality», with the aim of «demystifying them, reducing the stigma attached to them and bringing them closer to the community», objectives which have helped to «reduce» the discrimination often faced by those affected by such disorders, and have also ensured that the law «provides ever greater protection for people with some form of functional diversity».
«More than 50 per cent» of the population «will experience some form of distress or psychological suffering at some point in their lives», which is why we must «develop preventive strategies» that enable us to «prevent the onset of mental illness, rather than waiting for it to appear before seeking solutions», he asserted.
Las Canteras: Campaigns raise awareness of mental health
Isabel Mena, the Gran Canaria Island Council’s Councillor for Diversity, has emphasised that events such as the one taking place this year on the Las Canteras promenade, near Plaza de Saulo Torón, the aim is «to raise awareness of mental health, to encourage service users to come out onto the streets to showcase the activities» they carry out on a daily basis and «to gradually break down the taboos surrounding mental health, which, fortunately, has been discussed more openly in recent years».
«We have managed to get society to talk about mental health much more openly, but there is still a great deal of stigma surrounding people who suffer from mental health problems and who may be out on the streets taking part in sporting or cultural activities; providing information to people walking along the Las Canteras promenade is also essential so that people can talk face-to-face with those who have a problem» of this kind, she said.
The Canary Islands Government’s Minister for Health, Esther Monzón, has highlighted the impact of new technologies on the mental health of children and young people, given the ‚toxic‘ relationship they often have with them; this is why prevention efforts must be stepped up for these groups.
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