Everyone is impacted by mental health conditions – including the friends, family, and coworkers who don’t live with a mental health condition themselves. One in five adults in the U.S. experiences a mental health condition each year, which impacts those who know and love them.
Since 1990, Americans have celebrated the first full week of October as Mental Illness Awareness Week after the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) lobbied Congress to create this critical awareness event. This year, Mental Illness Awareness Week is October 6 – 12 and World Mental Health Day is October 10.
This year, alongside the World Federation for Mental Health, the founders of World Mental Health Day, we are recognizing the importance of prioritizing mental health in the workplace.
Our theme for Mental Illness Awareness Week and World Mental Health Day is “My Mental Health at Work.”
From October 6 – 12, NAMI plans to highlight how our mental health is impacted by our workplace cultures. In our new resources, employers can find practical tips about how to better support their staff. Meanwhile, employees can learn about the resources available to them and how to advocate for mental health support at work.
We encourage you to join us in promoting mental wellness at work throughout Mental Illness Awareness Week, and especially on World Mental Health Day.
About Mental Illness
A mental illness is a medical condition that disrupts a person’s thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others and daily functioning.
The NAMI HelpLine is a free, nationwide peer-support service providing information, resource referrals and support to people living with a mental health condition, their family members and caregivers, mental health providers and the public.
The NAMI HelpLine can be reached Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., ET.
Call 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), text “HelpLine” to 62640 or email us at [email protected].
See also:
National Depression Screening Day
