Blog
Understanding Mental Health In Disability
In Australia, people with disabilities experience several social disadvantages, like a lower likelihood of achieving higher education and a higher chance of being outside the workforce. These social inequalities can all impact mental health. Understanding how disabilities, environment, and mental health influence each other can help us navigate challenges and care for participants.
Understanding the experiences of a participant’s mental health helps us provide better support. Many factors affect a participant’s experience, including the nature of their condition, any coexisting conditions, and their experiences of discrimination and stigma. This may be their primary condition, secondary or even a result of their primary condition. Many participants come from within our own community, and need support to manage the day to day activities most take for granted.
Mental health has been a challenge for our community for decades and many of us has a personal connection to the negative results of not addressing such challenges. Alarmingly it has taken decades to begin to approach mental health from a caring standpoint, wherein we help, listen, and support each other towards a more stable tomorrow. It is crucial to ensure that we as a community bring action to enact positive changes for those struggling with mental health. By making a concerted effort to spread mental health awareness, we can work to de-stigmatise how we think about, approach, and identify mental health issues in our community.