Organizations
Organizations Working To Reduce Stigma
Attitudes in Reverse (AIR) aims to save young people’s lives by educating them about mental health and suicide prevention. Tricia Baker co-founded AIR with her husband Kurt and daughter Katelyn, in 2010 soon after their son/brother, Kenny, completed suicide after a long battle with severe depression and anxiety disorder. The loss of Kenny, and the discrimination they faced following Kenny’s death, compelled the family to embark on a mission to eliminate stigma and help save young lives. Tricia, Kurt, Katelyn and AIR volunteers educate students, teachers, and school faculty about mental health disorders and the importance of early identification and treatment.
Bring Change 2 Mind is a national anti-stigma campaign aimed at removing misconceptions about mental illness. Their website contains resources such as conversation guides, information on suicide prevention, and support for the child, adolescent, high school, college, and military and veteran, communities. What makes this site unique is that they have an additional focus on ending the stigma associated with men’s mental health. They recently launched #StrongerThanStigma, which raises awareness surrounding the unique challenges that men face when discussing mental health, to encourage open dialogue, and to promote help seeking behavior.
Centerlink works to develop and support LGBT community centers throughout the United States and other parts of the world, promoting diversity and equality and celebrating LGBT culture. Nonprofit LGBT centers may, in some areas, be the only places LGBT individuals can seek information, health care, or other services of benefit to their well-being, but many locations lack resources, staff, and face other difficulties. CenterLink works to increase the capacity of these centers in order to allow them to reach and support a greater number of individuals. Visitors to the website can see center locations, access resources on CenterLink’s programs, view a list of LGBT-related job listings across the United States, and learn how to get involved.
Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA)
DBSA educates the public to decrease this stigma and make it easier for people with mood disorders to ask for and receive the help they need. DBSA commissioned a survey of 1,200 American adults, a sample representative of the U.S. population in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, geography, and education, and found that many people still need to be educated about mood disorders, especially bipolar disorder.
Erika’s Lighthouse, a Beacon of Hope for Adolescent Depression was founded in 2004 by Virginia and Thomas Neuckranz after their daughter, Erika lost her life to depression. The focus is to empower young people with depression with the knowledge and skills to understand and cope with this illness. The website provides comprehensive information, activities, and programs for teens, young adults, parents, schools, health professionals, and community organizations.
Families for Depression Awareness
Families for Depression Awareness is a nonprofit organization working to promote depression awareness by uniquely focusing on the friends, family, and caregivers of those experiencing depression and/or bipolar. The website highlights their “Family Profiles,” a collection of interviews with individuals who have depression, which spread the message that anyone can experience depression in an effort to reduce stigma associated with the condition. Families can email these profiles to those they feel may be at risk. The site offers wellness analyzer tools, links to videos and resources for adults and youth, free webinars, and Depression Wellness Guides in English and Spanish.
Freedom from Fear is a nonprofit organization advocating for those with mental health concerns such as anxiety and depression, offers content in both English and Spanish. Based in Staten Island, Freedom From Fear has a local treatment center and also offers information on alternatives to traditional counseling. Visitors to the site can watch informational videos about anxiety and depression, access treatment resources, subscribe to a free newsletter, and read weekly informational posts from experts and mental health professionals on a variety of topics related to wellness. The website also provides an extensive collection of links to other sites providing mental health care or crisis information and counseling resources.
HelpGuide is a nonprofit organization, founded by Jeanne and Robert Segal in 1999 after their daughter died by suicide. They started the website to provide people seeking help with access to professional research, presented in a non-biased and supportive format. The goal of the site is to offer hope and empower people to achieve greater mental well-being through knowledge and self-help, as well as treatment. Helpguide, which collaborates with Harvard Health Publications, provides extensive information about mental health concerns and emotional issues, an emotional intelligence toolkit, and a free monthly newsletter.
The mission of International Foundation for Research and Education on Depression (iFred) is to shine a positive light on depression and eliminate the stigma associated with the disease through prevention, research and education. Its goal is to ensure 100% of the 350 million people affected by depression seek and receive treatment. iFred is creating a shift in society’s negative perception of depression through positive imagery and branding- establishing the sunflower and color yellow as the international symbol of hope for depression. iFred engages with individuals and organizations to execute high-impact and effective campaigns that educate the public about support and treatment for depression.
Mental Health Channel is a web-based platform for mental health and wellness programming. The channel’s programming includes several original series on a variety of topics, such as personal stories and information about wellness, treatment, and care access. Thorough their programming, MHC hopes to encourage people to have positive conversations about mental health and wellness, increase understanding of mental health challenges, and support those who are facing them. All of their content, some of which appears on PBS and other television channels, is completely free to view and share by individuals or organizations. MHC also offers filmmakers the option to submit short films raising awareness about mental health concerns with an annual Online Film Festival.
Minding Your Mind’s (MYM) primary objective is to provide mental health education to adolescents, teens and young adults, their parents, teachers and school administrators. Their goal is to reduce the stigma and destructive behaviors often associated with mental health issues. Treatment is available, yet only 3 out of 10 individuals needing help actually seek help. MYM programs move away from crisis based response to prevention through education. It provides resources for parents, students, schools, and communities.
National Alliance of Mental Illness
The National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI) is the nation’s largest mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness. NAMI is an association of hundreds of local affiliates, state organizations and volunteers who work in your community to raise awareness and provide support and education that was not previously available to those in need.
National Institute of Mental Health
The National Institute of Mental Health’s (NIMH) mission is to transform the understanding and treatment of mental illness through basic and clinical research, paving the way for prevention, recovery, and cure.
National Network to Eliminate Disparities in Behavioral Health
This organization seeks to promote equal behavioral health care resources for all. The organization strives to connect minority communities through shared values and wellness goals to foster the growth of community-based knowledge, eliminate stigma, and achieve equity in behavioral and wellness resources. Each year in July, which is National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, NNED partners with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) to offer Twitter chats and Mental Health Awareness webinars to celebrate and increase mental health awareness across diverse communities nationwide.
This is an organization seeking to unite individuals with a common goal: the elimination of stigma toward mental health concerns. Their website offers free membership to anyone who agrees to uphold core values of respect, community support and advocacy for others, personal responsibility, and the elimination of stigma. Membership includes tools for awareness; informational content; and access to peer groups, events, and e-learning courses. Site visitors can also view the NoStigmas project, which are member-contributed stories in various media formats about the journey toward healing and wellness. Visitors in need of support can connect online with peers, obtain information about free or low-cost counseling resources and services, and access wellness information and treatment tools.
See Me is Scotland’s response to the stigmatization of mental health concerns. It is a national program dedicated to ending the discrimination affecting outcomes for those facing mental and emotional challenges. The program also works to help people, especially young people, realize mental well-being is essential to good health and empower them to seek help and support when necessary. See Me’s website provides visitors with information on talking to employers and health care professionals, supporting staff members or coworkers, and advice on what to do when experiencing discrimination.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is the agency within the US Department of Health and Human Services that leads public health efforts to advance the behavioral health of the nation. This website offers information, resources, programs, and campaigns on the prevention of substance abuse and mental illness, behavioral health treatments and services, and recovery and recovery support.
This nonprofit organization is dedicated to providing youth, their families, and educators with reliable, evidence-based mental health information, works to combat stigma through accurate information and greater mental health literacy. The site offers several “First Person Experience” videos, each of which features a unique individual’s story, information about mental health and behavioral concerns as well as general wellness, a toolbox containing an informational app and resources, and “Care” resources specifically directed toward friends, educators, parents, and educators of those facing mental health challenges.
Teen Health and Wellness Hotlines
Included are national hotlines, helplines, and information lines:
Suicide/ Crisis Intervention Hotlines
1-201-262-HELP Psychiatric Emergency Screening Program (201) 262-4357
1-800-273-TALK National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (800) 273-8255
1-877-Vet2Vet Veterans Peer Support Line (877) 838-2838
1-800-SUICIDA Spanish Speaking Suicide Hotline (800) 784-2432
1-877-YOUTHLINE Teen to Teen Peer Counseling Hotline (877) 986-8454
1-800-GRADHLP Grad Student Hotline (800) 472-3457
1-800-PPD-MOMS Post-Partum Depression Hotline (800) 773-6667
Time to Change is a U.K.-based campaign run by the mental health charity organizations Mind and Rethink Mental Illness, works with adults, children, and youth to end discriminatory attitudes and behavior toward those with mental health concerns across England. Their work, which aims to challenge stigma in the workplace, in health care, and in all other areas of life, has already achieved some measure of success: The last annual survey conducted reported an 8.3% improvement in public attitude toward those with mental health concerns since the movement began in 2007. Visitors to the site can learn about mental health and the impact of stigma, access tips on discussing their own mental health conditions, pledge to end mental health stigma themselves, and find out how to get involved.