Civil-society campaigners have united to co-create the global Speak Your Mind Campaign, a nationally driven and globally united campaign advocating for ending the silence around mental health. The overall aims of the campaign are to put pressure on governments to invest in, educate and empower people, so citizens have the support and resources for looking after their mental health.
To motivate our leaders to take action, we have worked with campaigners from 15 countries – many with mental health conditions themselves – to end the silence and fight for action. The campaign was launched in May 2019 at the World Health Assembly in Geneva at a gathering of health ministers and decision-makers from around the world.
Speak Your Mind is an initiative of a UK-based NGO, United for Global Mental Health, alongside civil society organizations from 15 countries from across the world. United for Global Mental Health (UGMH) was founded to create a united, worldwide effort to bring about greater action on global mental health, with the theme of mental health for all being at the fore of its objectives.
The Speak Your Mind campaign is nationally driven by the South African Country team, led by the South African Federation for Mental Health (SAFMH), in conjunction with the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) and the Regional Psychosocial Support Initiative (REPSSI). This campaign will seek to hold governments around the world accountable for their actions and inactions towards mental health and is intended to fast-track the rights of people with mental disabilities.
Here are three actions you can take to support Speak Your Mind:
- Sign up to the campaign, read the manifesto and pledge to make change happen(gospeakyourmind.org)
- Show your supportthrough posting on social media using #SpeakYourMind
- Share the campaignwith your networks to grow the movement fighting for action
