After compiling the platforms and videos a multitude of possibilities for courses of action to take arose. All of the links and sources detail the same issue, the importance of addressing and even just naming the issue of mental illness, especially for the youth in this country is immense. Much like Ruby Wax said, the statistics could easily change to 4/4 affected Americans should nothing be done.
Michael Marmot also details the most descriptive and inclusive strategy for enacting social change that not only creates healthier generations today, but also addresses the structural root cause of the problem within society to make healthier generations of tomorrow as well. His work combined with the use of the framework outlined by the US Department of Health Services provides the clearest ‘next steps’ that I could take in creating a plan to fix or begin fixing my issue.
Such first steps are illustrated and currently being done by those at the Young Minds Advocacy Organization that offers great, detailed resources for ways to get informed, involved, and seek help.
I plan to dive deeper into combining all of the sites I’ve found so far to create one, all-encompassing way to focus and work on the issue at hand.
– tf
Mental Health and Addictions 