Not Myself Today Canada – a wonderful campaign to de-stigmatize mental health #NotMyselfToday

A few weeks ago, I posted on my personal Facebook account that I just wasn’t feeling myself that day (one day after having felt on top of the world). Mood swings are not a rarity in any human, and I’m not immune to them either. In fact, this past weekend I disconnected for 2 days completely, and just read and did work (and chores). This prompted a very close friend of mine to call me and check up on me (which was very nice, and reassuring). But I’ve always been open about when I don’t feel myself. I think social media has great potential to enable people to engage in the conversation about mental health (note that I use mental health, rather than mental illness – I am used to talking about mental health, as I translate it mentally from Spanish “salud mental”).

A couple of months ago, via Ferg Devins from Coors/Molson Canada, and more recently via Tod Maffin (both Tod and Ferg are friends of mine) I found out about the website Not Myself Today Canada. Coincidentally, today (April 30th) is the National Day of Action.

The Not Myself Today campaign launched on April 2, 2012 and will continue through May 14th. Throughout the campaign, we’re asking people to take the ‘Not Myself Today’ pledge, share their mood on a mood map of Canada, share their personal stories about mental health and learn about the issue. A highlight of the ‘Not Myself Today’ campaign is the Day of Action on April 30 when an all-out blitz of events will be happening in schools and workplaces across the country.

The campaign is promoted by Partners For Mental Health, a national organization working on galvanizing social action towards mental health (and speaking positively about it).

Partners for Mental Health, an independent registered charity, is a national organization dedicated to “supercharging” a social movement that will transform the way Canadians think and act towards their own mental health, and towards people living with a mental health problem or illness.

In partnership with others, we will empower and mobilize Canadians to take action that will:

– Encourage people to pay more attention to their own mental health and well-being.
– Positively change attitudes and behaviours towards those living with mental health problems or illnesses.
– Help change policies to improve the mental health system.
– Increase funding for programs, services and research.

You can follow Not Myself Today Canada on Twitter (@NMTCanada). The website encourages you to (a) Pin your mood to a national map (a great visualization, in fact – with surprising results I might add) and (b) take the pledge to support and encourage the conversation around mental health. There are many reasons why it’s important to talk about mental health and I’m glad that Not Myself Today discusses them at length. Overall, a wonderful campaign. I pinned my mood today (where I’m feeling stressed about the end of the school year), and I found it liberating. Maybe you will too.