The language, framework, system enablers, and political commitment that a country needs to promote and protect the mental health of its citizens

Abstract

High levels of mental wellbeing and low levels of mental ill-health across the population are good for individuals, good for communities, and good for the economy, and worth pursuing through a focus on promotion and prevention to complement existing efforts focused on treatment and cure. Success in promotion and prevention requires four things – giving a country's citizens the language and knowledge to motivate action, using a public health approach to positively change the balance of mental health risk and protective factors across the population, building the systems infrastructure to support action, and gaining and maintaining political commitment. This paper discusses each of these issues in turn and highlights the importance of taking a planned, coordinated, and systematic approach to promotion and prevention which is sustained over time.