Mental Health Europe and its members take a psychosocial approach to supporting people with mental health problems. Can you tell us a little bit about how this methodology can be particularly helpful for LGBTI people?
The psychosocial model is all about seeing past the concepts of illness, disorders and disease and looking at how our environment, our community and our identities affect our mental health, both negatively and positively.
In the past LGBTI people have been labelled as mentally ill or disordered but the psychosocial model looks at mental health as natural and a spectrum (from mental well-being all the way to mental ill-health). We all have mental health and the contexts of our lives and the things we experience influence that. For example, we know that racism, discrimination and violence can negatively impact on our mental health.
This means that our approach takes account of the lived experience of LGBTI people and their identities which can be helpful in mental healthcare settings so that we can provide the right kind of support.
The #ComeOut4MentalHealth campaign is encouraging LGBTI activists to seek mental health supports – but some members of the community have had negative experiences with medical professionals in the past. How do Mental health Europe's members overcome these challenges?
It’s worth recalling that lots of our members were/are pioneers in calling for the de-pathologising of LGBTI identities. Many have become increasingly aware of the challenges that LGBTI people face and how that can affect their mental health.
Mental health isn’t something that is visible, just like LGBTI identities might not necessarily be visible, so many of our members know how to ask the right questions, to gain trust and make people feel comfortable with disclosing their identities and experiences.
HOWEVER, MORE WORK NEEDS TO BE DONE TO ENSURE THAT ALL MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS DON’T MAKE ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT PEOPLE’S LIVES AND LOOK PAST THEIR INTERSECTING IDENTITIES.
Have Mental health Europe got a message they’d like to share with the LGBTI communities in Europe?
We all have mental health and everyone faces challenges but remember mental health isn’t just about staving off problems, it’s also one of our biggest assets and our mental well-being is part of that.
MHE IS CURRENTLY RUNNING AN ANTI-STIGMA CAMPAIGN - #EACHOFUS - AND THAT’S THE CORE OF OUR MESSAGE. EACH OF US HAS MENTAL HEALTH AND EACH OF US IS PART OF THE SOLUTION TO BREAKING DOWN STIGMA.
Our individual message to the LGBTI community is to mind your mental health, be proud of who you are, be kind to yourselves and those in your community.
