Chatting with your neighbours, greeting people at https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/lgbtq-students-texas-school-rainbow-stickers-rcna23208 your local café, or starting a conversation at the bus stop can lead to new friendships. Connecting with a variety of people can help you learn and grow! But don’t be afraid to meet people who are different, too. Look for groups that match your interests, beliefs, faith or values, as it’s easier to start conversations with people who have similar views.
- By fostering supportive environments, breaking down barriers, and advocating for change, we can improve mental health outcomes for everyone.
- They are intended solely for educational and self-awareness purposes and should not be used as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
- Yet, there is now an evidence base that contact‐based interventions are effective to reduce stigma48, 128, 129, 130.
- The COVID‐19 pandemic has presented a global health crisis capable of exerting a heavy toll on the mental health of community members while inducing unwelcome levels of social disconnection.
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Although most people are resilient, people who are exposed to adverse circumstances are at higher risk of developing a mental health condition. At any one time, a diverse set of individual, family, community and structural factors may combine to protect or undermine mental health. Mental health is a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realize their abilities, learn and work well, and contribute to their community. CooperRiis is a non-profit residential healing community for adults with mental health challenges. What types of spaces, events, and activities can we intentionally seek out to create a healthful and supportive environment that nurtures our mental health? Why is a strong sense of community correlated with better mental health?
Existing research on health initiatives such as Social Prescribing have already evidenced the value inherent in investments in community‐based participation for individuals experiencing the health‐related effects of social isolation (Kellezi et al., 2019; Wakefield et al., 2020). Whilst these relationships have, to date, been extensively theorized, our work is the first (to our knowledge) to demonstrate how community help‐giving during the pandemic predicts better mental health via increased social identification. In terms of responding to the challenges of COVID‐19, we expect this theoretical framework to reveal the pathways through which participation in the globally observed community aid phenomena may predict the mental health and well‐being of residents engaged in those crucial community support behaviours. Helping behaviour does not merely arise from community belonging but plays an important role in building community identification and togetherness thus influencing mental health and well‐being through the resultant sharing of social and psychological resources (in addition to the direct benefits accrued by the help recipients). As well as feelings of unity and solidarity, previous research has found community‐based responses to disaster can protect the mental health of those involved, buffering them from trauma (Muldoon et al., 2017).
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This response has provided essential assistance and supplemented governmental attempts to support citizens. COVID‐19 constitutes an unparalleled “social threat” (Banerjee & Rai, 2020). Implications for the promotion and support of voluntary helping initiatives in the context of longer‐term responses to the COVID‐19 pandemic are provided. Survey data collected in the UK during June 2020 showed that coordinated community helping predicted the psychological bonding of community members by building a sense of community identification and unity during the pandemic, which predicted increased well‐being and reduced depression and anxiety.
Associated Data
Ethical considerations are of importance to many community interventions given the focus on marginalized and under-resourced populations 24, 133. Policies that promote mental health equity are beyond the scope of this review but are detailed in our recent review on this topic 113•. Several successful school-based interventions operated at the organizational level, such as Warschburger and Zitzmann’s universal school-based prevention program for eating disorders in Germany and other whole school approaches 111, 112. For example, Patel et al. demonstrated the successful delivery of behavioral activation for depression by LHWs through relatively brief training to a population with significant barriers to healthcare access 91•. By age 21, CTC vs. control communities showed increased likelihood of lifetime abstinence from alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use (ARR 1.49; 95% CI 1.03, 2.16), increased abstinence from antisocial behavior (ARR 1.18, 95% CI 1.02, 1.37), and decreased lifetime incidence of violence (ARR 0.89, 95% CI 0.79, 0.99). Multiple recent studies consider the effects of war and broad structural forces on mental health 87–89, 93.
RS programs received a depression care toolkit with technical assistance and consultation to implement a community-wide approach to depression care. Adaptations exist for other target populations (e.g., children) and settings (e.g., obstetrics/gynecology practices, mental health clinics) 5••, 11–13. In 1948, the World Health Organization defined health as a “state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” .