Professionals

The National Mental Health Awareness Campaign has developed programs under the guidance of some of the top mental health professionals in the field to ensure that our speakers and outreach are effective. The members of our board of directors review and approve everything we do to make sure it is in accordance with the most up to date mental health research.

We know that many schools and parents have concern about what their students or children hear about mental health and we work hard to make sure all of the information they receive is accurate and useful. Our main message is that all mental health issues are treatable and every individual should work with a mental health professional to find which treatment works best for them. While we do let students know that the most effective form of treatment for severe mental disorders is some level of medication with some level of talk therapy, we do not promote one form of treatment over another or discuss individual treatment. We also never publicly mention ways for people to attempt to take their own lives, because we understand that some people may be vulnerable.

Research from some of the leading experts on stigma shows that an effective approach to removing stigma is positive contact with individuals suffering from a mental disorder. NMHAC's Speakers' Bureau and our outreach provides positive examples of people suffering from mental disorders and functioning well as they maintain whatever treatment works best for them.

Our past programs have highly reflected our focus for precise mental health messaging. We have worked with major media partners and mental health organizations to educate people about mental health issues in all areas. Our main current focus is with young people, but we have worked with the USC Annenberg School for Communication and the University of Pennsylvania Annenberg Public Policy Center as well as the entertainment industry to promote accurate depictions of people with metal disorders in the media. We also worked with the American Association of Geriatric Psychiatry and SAMHSA to discuss stigma in older adults.

We hope you enjoy learning more about our programs, and our speakers' bureau The Heard.