BENY LYN P.

URITA
Teacher III
Maratudo ES
Mental Health and
Wellbeing

 ‘Health is a state of complete physical,

mental and social well-being and not
merely the absence of disease’ (WHO, 2008 – Mental
Health)

 Wellbeing: Reflects values, norms human

needs etc. as perceived by people
themselves (Diener and Suh, 2000; Prlleltensky et al. 2000; Myers et
al. 2005).
Community perceptions of mental
health and wellbeing

 Material wellbeing
 Social wellbeing
 Security
 Physical, mental and moral/spiritual
wellbeing
Material wellbeing

 having stable employment/livelihoods

 having stable cash incomes
 access to adequate land
 having permanent, secure and
spacious house
Social wellbeing

 providing good education and socialization for

children
 caring for children
 unity and harmony within family
 unity and harmony within community
 unity and harmony with neighbouring
communities/host communities
How are you feeling today?

 Very happy
 Somewhat happy

 Unhappy
How stressful is your job
right now?
 Minimum
 Average

 Maximum
What is your level of frustration
in your teaching profession?

 Not frustrating
 Somewhat frustrating

 Very frustrating
What reduces community
mental health and
wellbeing?
Promoting mental health
and wellbeing
Interventions
Social
Medical (treatments)

Strengthening resilience and support

Individual
Family
Community

Promoting recovery (‘recovery approach’)

Developing hope
Overcoming barriers
Social inclusion
Mental Health
Interventions

Medical model:
 Problems identified by symptoms of
individuals
 ‘Illness’ represents bio-medical pathology
Mental Health
Interventions
Social model:
 Origin / cause of MH problems are
social
 ‘Illness’ is socially constructed

 Help is via social interventions and

support involving family, community,
living conditions etc.
Mental health promotion
 develop ‘balanced care’ = hospital care +
community care (mixture of medical and social
models)
 Work as multi-disciplinary teams
 support traditional healing systems
 promote family and community support
 integrate with community development
 social inclusion and participation
 reduce risk factors
 Recommendations for developing
community-based mental health
services

Principles:

 Bottom-up approach:- ‘home-grown’

 Involve local community organizations (e.g.
schools, temples, churches, mosques, etc. )
 Culturally and socially acceptable/sensitive
 Include marginalized groups
 Integrate local knowledge with outside
‘expertise’
Prevention of mental
health problems
 Acquiring professional skills
 Creating a supportive school
environment that is conducive to
learning and developing life skills
 Providing mental health education,
knowledge, attitudes and behaviors
 Specific Life-Skills

 Specific skills would depend on social

and cultural context in which the
person lives – so would vary and the
specifics of the skills required would
change as society changes and / or
person moves (e.g. migrates)
 Western and Non-Western
Understandings of Life Skills
Western Non-western
Decision-making and problem solving
 analyzing information and  adherence to cultural norms and
experiences objectively and making seeking guidance from elders and
decisions based on facts spiritual influences
Communication
 ability to express views and  indirect expression of views,
opinions directly respecting views of other people,
and dependence on family
Independence

 Depend on oneself primarily and  respecting opinions of others and

maximize self-confidence more accepting of dependence on
others
Western and Non-Western
Understandings of Life Skills
Western
Coping with emotions
 Recognizing emotions,
controlling emotions and
expressing emotions in
acceptable ways
Coping with stress
 Understanding causes of
stress and controlling stress
Non-western
wide cultural variation in
expression of emotions and
need to control emotions
 cultures vary a great deal in
ways of dealing with stress –
some prefer acceptance of
control