Psycological First Aid is theme for Mental Health Day

The theme of this year’s World Mental Health Day, observed on October 10, covers “psychological first aid”.

Efforts in support of the day focused on basic pragmatic psychological support by people who find themselves in a helping role whether they are health staff, teachers, firemen, community workers, or police officers.

The Laloki Psychiatric Hospital will be holding a gathering tomorrow with their staff and patients to celebrate the World Mental Health Day which was deferred from Monday.

Besides the theme of the WMHD for this year, speeches will be made highlighting main constraints that is hindering effective mental health services in the country. 

Psychological first aid covers both psychological and social support and just like general health care, it never consists of physical first aid alone, and similarly no mental health care system should consist of psychological first aid alone.

The investment in psychological first aid is part of a longer-term effort to ensure that anyone in acute distress due to a crisis is able to receive basic support.

Those who need more than psychological first aid will receive additional advanced support from health, mental health and social services.

Author: 
Annette Kora