For suicide prevention week/month, here are some steps neurotypical people can take to help do their part in de-stigmatizing mental health! not in any particular order. I hope this is helpful to literally anyone

Recognize that mental illness is extremely common and can affect anyone at any point in their lives.

Take into consideration those with mental health conditions when you make decisions about work structures, policies, rules, regulations, and expectations in professional settings. -

How could your rules or policies possibly impact people’s mental health or wellbeing? Is it promoting a healthy environment?

Go farther than simply reaching out to friends to check on them. Of course doing this is important and wonderful, but we should try to lay out concrete plans and ideas on how to help people have access to comprehensive mental health care and medications.

In that light, support, donate, volunteer with your local mental health organizations if you are able to.

Sounds obvious, but educate yourself on mental illness and the statistics on it. While you should definitely read up on anxiety and depression, there are way more MIs that receive less exposure and are associated with heavy stigma. Bipolar, BPD, EDs, schizophrenia, OCD, DID, NPD

Be conscious of the language you use. While you may not be aware of it, someone you probably know has a mental illness they deal with. Consider alternatives to words like “so bipolar”, “totally OCD”, “psychotic”, “schizo”, etc during conversations. -

These words can be hurtful, especially when used to describe someone or something in a negative context.

Push against the narrative that mentally ill people are violent or otherwise dangerous to be around. I’ll add some links at the end explaining how this idea is inaccurate and based off of stigma and is used to circumvent the root issue of white supremacy in America.

Educate and familiarize yourself with the concept of ableism and how predominant it is in every day life. This ties into making rules in professional settings. And if you see ableism occurring, call it out! Links will be added below.

Remember that mental illnesses are just as real, impactful, and debilitating as physical illnesses you can see. That friend who takes psychiatric medication every single day needs it like a person with diabetes needs insulin every single day. cliche example but 4real

In the broader picture, we really need a national push to not only end societal stigma but to overhaul and deconstruct the capitalistic structures that intentionally limit low income and minority communities’ access to mental health care -

and build a country where there are mass campaigns to normalize and promote sympathy for disabled people and a system where care is explicitly free for everyone.

Learn about ableism here:

https://www.accessliving.org/newsroom/blog/ableism-101/

The myth of mentally ill people being violent:

https://cmhadurham.ca/finding-help/the-myth-of-violence-and-mental-illness/

Stop Using Mental Illness To Explain White Supremacy

https://www.yesmagazine.org/social-justice/2017/08/17/stop-using-mental-illness-to-explain-white-supremacy/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/1964731001

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/2051696001

Statistics on mental health in America:

https://www.nami.org/mhstats 

https://www.mhanational.org/issues/state-mental-health-america