World Mental Health Day 2022: ...acceptance...

  From our team:

Mental health remains stigmatized.

A “hot topic” that stirs up angst, aggression and even abuse in our modern society.

A topic riddled with controversy, regularly relegated to a point of “unimportance”. Terminology twisted by media, by politicians, by bullies…by people. Diagnoses thrown out as challenges or excuses or accusations.

Is it any wonder that we (the world over) remain in a mental health crisis?

“But what’s to be done?” you ask, as so many have done before.

How do we reduce the stigma or, better yet, remove it altogether?

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We’ve spoken at length in the past few days (and years, in other platforms) about the stigmatization of mental health (particularly as regards the neurodivergent population) and all the things, large and small, that we can all do to address it head-on.

But when it comes right down to it…when the question is posed intentionally, with a true desire to take action…perhaps it’s the simplest answer that wins out.

Acceptance.

There’s advocacy: The ongoing, often risky, work of those directly impacted and their allies.

There’s amplification: The making room for~promoting~sharing~redirecting…the experiential knowledge and concerns of those directly impacted.

There’s allowance: The ‘muddy water’ of permission(s) granted to those seen as too broken or too damaged to otherwise cope.

But what remains under-utilized and under-developed is pure, simple acceptance.

Acceptance is:

1. Acknowledging and embracing diversity.

2. Listening to the needs of others.

3. Actively involving those in need instead of isolating them.

4. Allowing others to be open about their feelings and experiences.

5. Being responsible in your appropriate use of diagnostic terminology and hashtags.

6. Developing relationships with persons who differ from you.

7. Educating yourself.

Acceptance is relating to someone, even when your feelings and experiences are different.

Acceptance is how stigma is reduced to zero, and humankind at large feels safe to explore mental/emotional health.

 

Acceptance is taking people for who they are, where they are, without trying to imprint on them, or make them fall in line, or force them to chase the next level…etc… and acknowledging that we are more alike than different.