This week we celebrate October 10th – World Mental Health Day – created with the aim of increasing awareness of the issue, reducing stigma and ensuring access to necessary care. It is a day that increasingly goes unnoticed by institutions and organizations.
Mental health has an impact throughout people’s lives, from before birth, throughout pregnancy, until the last days. It is a complex topic due to the number of elements that can interfere with people’s mental health throughout the different stages of life. We are integrated into systems that influence us and that can enhance or mitigate our resources, such as family, friends, the area where we live or the culture and laws to which we are exposed. The good news is that given the number of elements that influence our health, which make the topic complex, it also gives us a huge possibility of acting to promote health.
Throughout these various phases of ours, there is space to create measures, raise awareness, prevent and intervene in terms of mental health. Perhaps primary health care, schools and organizations are the primary means of doing this, given the number of years they have had direct interference with the person and are the stage for some of the most critical phases. Also families, of course, but they are monitored and influenced by these three systems.
In 2024, the World Health Organization (WHO) highlighted work as the main theme for this day. In fact, most people work for more than forty years. During this period we went through immense challenges and achievements. Organizations have an impact on the individual, on their family but also on the place where they are located and, depending on their business, on the value they bring to society, and can also be promoters of mental health. Although it was the theme for 2024, it will always be a theme for October 10th and every day of the year. Carrying out awareness-raising activities on this day, or during this period, is good, but it is not enough. There is a long way to go in the assessment and mitigation of psychosocial risks, in preparing the transition to retirement, in parental policies, in work-life balance, as well as in demystifying the topic and creating responses for appropriate intervention.
This year, the WHO chose to highlight mental health in humanitarian emergencies. Recalls the importance of taking care of the mental health of people affected by crises such as natural disasters, conflicts and public health emergencies. Meet immediate needs, support long-term recovery and reconstruction of families and communities. And these crises do not just happen in other parts of the globe, as we have already faced in 2025.
Mental health is for everyone, but we are all called to contribute to our own and others’ health. When every day is October 10th, we all win: people, organizations and society.