But First, Let’s Tackle Mental Health

What is mental health wellbeing, and is it for certain ages and not for others? and how can we manage it?

Wellbeing research has been undergoing major breakthroughs in the Middle East. Day by day, the national agenda is moving closer to happiness policies that aim to improve the quality of life for every one here in the United Arab Emirates. A recent initiative is the ‘Mental Health’ scheme, an educational policy that hopes to ease the invisible struggles we face from a very young age.

Having a Mental health scheme is crucial as the topic is usually uncomfortable to talk about, especially here in the Arab World. This means that many people who deal with anxiety, stress and depression, feel that they should deal with it on their own. There is not enough encouragement to appropriately handle such negative feelings.

Wellbeing professionals around the country hope to change this by providing that encouragement. They are forming a counseling and workshop program that will tackle mental health issues starting from school, working its way up to universities. The main purpose is to provide help to those who seek it. And ideally, more people will be encouraged to talk about it, bringing it out into the open so that mental health issues can be accepted and managed.

So, how does wellbeing improve mental health? It isn’t enough to simply manage mental health issues. Wellbeing focuses on ways to improve it and your overall quality of life as you tackle the increasingly stressful daily tasks. The importance of enough sleep, frequent exercise, and eating well are not just a trendy routine; they are proven ways of taking care of your body mentally, physically, and emotionally. Hence, it seems fitting that wellbeing is being used as the foundation of this national scheme.

However, these positive habits need to be learned and practiced. Which is why, well-being and mental health must be taught to children at school, and to their parents. An additional part of this agenda is to have psychiatric services readily available in every clinic and that well-being skills are taught in schools, with counselors in universities as well.

Many students will benefit from these new services because they have challenges that go beyond the classroom, whether it is about their family and the pressure they feel. There is a generation gap between modern children and traditional parents, who also don’t fully grasp the extent of mental health issues.

To bridge that gap, having specialized people for social support is a key to overcoming the social stigma associated with seeking help. Surely, this is the next step to a refined well-being policy to improve mental health.