Mental Health Awareness, Circles and Shiny New Book Edition

It's a month of hectic-ness for anyone working in the mental health ecosystem, and it's no different for The Health Collective. So this newsletter may tilt heavier on the Mental Health work but you can scroll past if you want to skip ahead!

Suicide Prevention Day & World Mental Health Day

I've finally stopped moaning and groaning about how the world and mainstream media only wake up to the subject of Mental Health between September and October, culminating with World Mental Health Day on October 10. (If you can't beat 'em, join 'em wala vibes.)

I'm glad that I didn't shy away from things this year. (A death by suicide a few years ago really hit close to home and rendered me shocked, stupefied, and grieving for a long time before I could even make any simple gesture of advocacy or awareness-raising or support on the subject).

Note: If you or anyone you know feels distressed, please know that help is available, and that you do not have to suffer alone. You are not alone. We have some third-party India helplines up here and some helplines for South Asia and Diaspora

This month we marked World Suicide Prevention Day on September 10th with a piece on some critical things to be aware of. The CMHLP's 10KtoZero Campaign kicked off as well and I was delighted to moderate and learn from some incredible panellists; we had a few hundred people join the zoom and as promised it was not a depressing chat. The numbers themselves are depressing, no doubt, and unacceptable. But a group of folks are galvanising for impact – to bring down the high number of child & adolescents taking their own lives. You can watch here. C2A: There are ways each of us can take part, play a role, and for those interested, you'll hear more on exactly how to do more (gatekeeper training, eg).