Quality Report Palliative Care Committee - May 6th-12th, 2024 is Mental Health Week

A Call to be Kind

We all have the capacity to be compassionate, and we know that doing so can make an enormous difference. This year’s Mental Health Week is centered on the healing power of compassion. In a world plagued by suffering, we emphasize that kindness is equally intrinsic to our humanity. Join us this May 6 to 12, 2024 to explore how compassion

connects us all.

#CompassionConnects

-CMHA Mental Health Week, https://cmha.ca/mental-health-week

Mental health and mental illness: what’s the difference?

• Mental health & mental illness are often used interchangeably, but they are not the same thing.

• “Mental health” is a concept similar to “physical health”: it refers to a state of well-being. Mental health includes our emotions, feelings of connection to others, our thoughts and feelings, and being able to manage life’s highs and lows.

The presence or absence of a mental illness is not a predictor of mental health;

someone without a mental illness could have poor mental health, just as a person with

a mental illness could have excellent mental health.



Who is affected?

• Everyone has mental health and will experience challenges regarding their mental well-being, but not everyone will experience a mental illness.

• Mental illness indirectly affects all Canadians at some time either through their own experience, or that of a family member, friend or colleague.

• In any given year, 1 in 5 people in Canada will personally experience a mental health problem or illness.

• By age 40, about 50% of the population will have or have had a mental illness.

Mental illness affects people of all ages, education, income levels, and cultures;

however, systemic inequalities such as racism, poverty, homelessness, discrimination, colonial and gender-based violence, among others, can worsen mental health and symptoms of mental illness, especially if mental health supports are difficult to access.

(CMHA, 2024).

Submitted By Carrie Frazier, Programs Manager