 Mental illness is like a physical illness. It’s real, but usually treatable. Help is available, so there is no need to suffer in silence. A healthy lifestyle can lower the risk of mental illness. What you eat, drink, or smoke, or how active you are physically or in your community can affect your mental health. Daily exercise, a healthy diet and active participation in community activities (such as work, volunteering or team activities) can improve mental health. Factors which can increase the likelihood of mental health problems include: negative life events such as relationship breakdowns; disability; long-term illness; social isolation and exclusion; deprivation and inequality. Factors which can improve mental health include good social support/people to talk to; opportunities to participate in creative, physical or spiritual activities; financial security; being more in control of life events and their impact; feeling safe. MadCap improves mental health by providing people with opportunities to participate in supportive networks while engaging in meaningful, skill and confidence building activities. Social Inclusion In a socially inclusive society all people feel valued, their differences are respected, and their basic needs are met so they can live in dignity. Social exclusion occurs when people are shut out from social, economic, political and cultural life. The result can be that people suffer from a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low income, poor housing, bad health and family breakdown. While social exclusion is not the sole realm of people with a mental illness, if social inclusion was described as a swimming pool then people with a mental illness would be “drowning, not waving”. More than three quarters of the 360,000 people of working age in Australia diagnosed with a severe mental illness are not in the labour force. This represents one of the lowest participation rates in the OECD. The MadCap Venture seeks to ensure that people with mental health problems have the same opportunities for participation as everybody else. |
