Mental health

SECTION 9

An alliance for health

In April 2020 in Latin America and the Caribbean, we agreed to improve mental health and well-being as a priority for young people in the region by creating opportunities for gialogue and development of proposals to support mental health and well-being.

We brought together our local human talent to create relevant solutions that improve people's quality of life

Mental health

Good practices in Latin America and the Caribbean

https://www.lacaymca.org/semanasaludmental https://www.lacaymca.org/semanasaludmental https://www.lacaymca.org/semanasaludmental https://www.lacaymca.org/semanasaludmental https://www.lacaymca.org/semanasaludmental https://www.lacaymca.org/semanasaludmental https://www.lacaymca.org/semanasaludmental https://www.lacaymca.org/semanasaludmental SEMANA DE LA SALUD MENTAL 2020 YMCA YMCA MENTAL HEALTH WEEK

Mental Health Week A week promoting well-being

The COVID-19 pandemic has accentuated disparities and increased the urgency of raising awareness of mental health and providing adequate community mental health services to young people. Approximately 70% of people with mental and neurological disorders in the region do not receive mental health care. Most countries direct more than 60% of mental health budgets to neuropsychiatric hospitals rather than more efficient community and primary care resources.

Faced with this reality and in the framework of the celebration of World Mental Health Day promoted by the World Health Organization (WHO), our Regional Network of Mental Health, organized from 5 to 10 October, the Mental Health Week under the slogan: Let's talk about mental health, well-being for all.

Online activities focused on promoting healthy living habits that contribute to the physical, emotional, spiritual, social, and mental well-being of young people, reaching a total audience that exceeded 50,000 total social media visits.

https://www.lacaymca.org/semanasaludmental Design of regional mental health program Mental health address for young people

The Regional Youth Mental Health Program is an initiative that was born to respond to mental health problems identified in young people in the region and increased by lockdowns.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Network of General Secretaries identified as a priority the improvement of the mental and emotional health of our staff, volunteers, and participants in local programs.

For this purpose, we created a regional network aimed at creating a relevant regional youth mental and emotional health program. In a first stage, experiences and best practices were identified within and outside the region such as the experiences of the YMCA of the United Kingdom, the United States and Vancouver (Canada), among others.

A research project was carried out on mental health and youth in the Latin American and Caribbean region, to understand this problem and raise awareness about it.

The results were presented in a discussion facilitated by two youth interns.