Mental Illness Awareness Week 2010 – Everyone knows at least one person who suffers from a mental illness. It was only recently that the general population started to recognize each individual illness and did not categorize everyone with a mental disorder as someone that is “crazy” or has some sort of problem.
This week has been declared the mental awareness week. The week was first thought of by Arkansas First Lady Ginger Beebe, who made the proclamation in Little Rock.
The theme of Mental Awareness Week is to change the attitude that the country has regarding mental illness. It was designated by congress to promote public education about the most serious cases which are often mistreated. Several speakers addressed people who attended to announcement.
The goal of the group is to further change the way that mental illness is perceived in the United States. Although, on the whole, the country has started to accept the fact that many with mental illnesses are not crazy, there is still a good portion of the population that is not aware of what causes mental illness.
The committee for Mental Awareness Week consists of a number of reps from the Rivendell hospital, as well as a number of other health organizations.
“I am delighted that we have so many events in our state for this week,” Kim Arnold, executive director of NAMI Arkansas said. “This is NAMI’s premiere public awareness event.”
It will be interesting to see how the declaration of the week changed the national outlook on mental illness and mental health in general.