World Mental Health Day is here. For me it’s another reminder that, if we really invested in prevention, we wouldn’t need days like this to remind us about the importance of mental health.
The goal – people living a lifestyle of actively investing in mental and physical health, designing their lives and broader society into a way that enables everyone to thrive collectively.
Skills Are Needed
Every day we hear stories about people who wish they knew about these things earlier in life. How much pain and trauma it could have saved them, if only there was better education around mental health and what enables it, what protects it.
So much time and effort has been going into focusing on what mental illness looks like – the symptoms, the signs, the risks.
While this can be helpful to know, we need to go beyond this, showing more people what prevention looks like – the skills we can develop, the changes that brings hope. Only when we do this can we start changing the trends in mental illness and suicide. We can start to prevent, rather than just respond.
Primary prevention means taking action before mental health issues develop – address risks early, build protective factors. The most promising pathway I believe in to achieve this is through resilience – the ability to advance despite adversity. Resilience is not just “bouncing back” from challenges; it is about building the internal and external resources that help us to navigate life’s ups, downs, and everything in between. Here is where connected resilience comes in.
Connect to Prevent
Connected resilience means building a shared sense of responsibility for mental health through supportive relationships, communities, and systems that uplift and sustain each other. We all have a part to play in this process, not just mental health professionals. Everyday conversations and actions can profoundly influence resilience.
For example, tools like the ALL Protocol taught in Resilience First Aid help us build resilience in others through simple, proactive conversations. Whether you’re a colleague, family member, or friend, engaging in these small acts of connection can make a significant difference. Appreciating others’ strengths and struggles, listening with compassion, and helping to lift their hope and knowledge, can foster mental well-being across all levels of mental health.
I’m immensely proud of the thousands of people who have already become RFA certified, taking on crucial roles in their communities and workplaces to be champions of resilience and prevention.
Why Resilience
It works. The science of resilience shows that building resilience is incredibly effective for preventing mental health issues like depression, anxiety, and even suicidal ideation. According to research, increasing resilience helps with lower levels of mental health vulnerabilities. Individuals with high resilience are less likely to develop symptoms of anxiety and depression, and they have a better capacity to cope with stress.
The Predictive 6 Factor Resilience (PR6) model provides a practical and comprehensive framework for understanding and building resilience. Six domains of vital life skills are identified: Composure, Tenacity, Reasoning, Collaboration, Vision, and Health. This model highlights how resilience can be cultivated across various domains of life – from managing emotions to building strong social connections and maintaining physical health – all of these contribute to prevention.
What makes resilience especially powerful in preventing mental illness is that it is a skill that can be learned and strengthened at any stage of life. Research has shown that targeted resilience training can lead to significant improvements in mental health outcomes. By incorporating resilience-building practices into daily life, we create a buffer against the stressors that can lead to mental illness. Not only can we do this within ourselves, but we can support this in people around us.
A Collective Path to Long-term Change
We are at a turning point in global mental health, where we must invest in primary prevention as a long-term strategy for change. The cost of inaction is more than we can bear – not only in economic terms but in the human cost of suffering, loss of life, and reduced quality of living. Resilience, as a primary prevention tool, offers hope for reducing these burdens.
On World Mental Health Day, let’s commit to building resilience, every day as a lifestyle for a better world. By connecting through small, meaningful actions and building relationship of resilience, we can change the trend of mental health in the world. Each of us has the power to contribute to a future where mental health is safeguarded, where individuals thrive, and where mental illness is prevented before it begins.
Together, we can create a future where mental health is not a crisis to react to, but a strength we develop in ourselves and those around us – one resilient connection at a time.
All the best,
Jurie Rossouw
Read more about the impact of resilience in the PR6 research paper here – driv.ai/pr6-big5
Crisis Support:
Australia – Lifeline: 13 11 14
United States – Lifeline: 988
