Instagram found three influencers that has already created these communities on IG and has given much-needed support and information to others already and created a 1 minute video highlighting the importance of talking about mental health. This video was shown and shared worldwide, helping to raise awareness about mental health and the importance of finding support.
That following September, IG launched a new feature that will allow people to be able to connect to mental health resources near them. “If you see a post on Instagram from someone who may be in need of mental health support, you can report it anonymously. The next time that person logs into the app, we will connect them to organizations in their country that offer help. We have teams working 24 hours a day, seven days a week to review these reports. We also display these resources when someone visits a hashtag page for a sensitive topic”. Aside from this, they are also working beyond and trying to allow access to other organizations like the Crisis Text Line and National Eating Disorder Association and Samaritans.
The TedTalk with Vickram Patel about “Mental Health for All by Involving All”, I thought was interesting because it talks about how not only in wealthy nations, only half of patients who are affected by mental illness receive the appropriate care, but in developing countries, close to 90 percent are untreated since psychiatrists are in such short supply. He mentions in his video that “mental illnesses are amongst the leading causes of disability around the world. Depression, for example, is the third-leading cause of disability, alongside conditions such as diarrhea and pneumonia in children”. (1:48) When thinking about mental illness, I never think to far ahead of how many people it actual affects as well as who and how common it is amount our population. Hearing that example has brought my attention that mental health plays a bigger factor in our lives than people think it does, and that we should start advocating and educating more of our healthcare systems to be able to handle and execute treatment to the best of the physicians ability for the patient. Another thing that stood out to me was when he said “when you are short of specialized healthcare professionals, use whoever is available in the community, train them to provide a range of healthcare interventions…” (6:47) I like this idea, because not only is it going to provide the community more resources, it’s cost efficient and allows those who are in the community to be able to provide for their community, whereas an outsider coming in and potentially leaving.
Malinda