12 Months of Understanding Stigma
Rachel Boehm, MA, CHE
Executive Heart-Centred Leader ~”Work is love made visible.” (Khalil Gibran) ~ The views and opinions expressed here are my own.
For 2019, I am posting 12 months of understanding stigma.
What is stigma? According to the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) "stigma (or prejudice) describes a negative and unfavorable attitude." It comes from the latin root meaning "mark made on skin by burning with a hot iron."
MHCC explains that "stigma causes those living with a mental illness [including addiction] to be labelled, stereotyped, and feared." Stigma leads to discrimination, causing individuals with mental illness (including addiction) to be treated differently by those with whom they come in contact each day. Mental illnesses are very prevalent; yet, even healthcare providers may treat individuals with mental illness [including addiction] differently than other patients. As a result, individuals may fail to disclose mental illness, fail to seek the treatment for mental illness or fail to get needed treatment for other serious physical illnesses (because all providers notice is the mental illness).
Because of stigma, Canadians may fail to disclose mental illness, fail to seek the treatment for mental illness or fail to get needed treatment for other serious illnesses (because all providers notice is the mental illness).
MHCC's free course called Understanding Stigma is designed to help healthcare providers and frontline clinicians develop strategies to improve care for people with mental health and addiction problems. Reducing stigma is the first step to reducing the discrimination experienced by Canadians living with mental illness (including addiction).
Understanding Stigma is hosted on the #CAMH website. Check it out! https://moodle9.camhx.ca/moodle/?lang=en
#mentalhealth #addiction #stigma #discrimination #dignity #respect
This is a great article, thank you for sharing. As an expat, I can say that even though Canada continues to work on this, I find it is further advanced than many other countries I have lived in so keep it up and break the stigma!?
Business owner and Comedian.
5 年So true. I love this.