How Can You Fight Stigma?

This video provides a list of actions that can be taken to fight stigma and support those struggling with brain health. It emphasizes the importance of open dialogue, education, conscious language use, equality, compassion, honesty about treatment, and checking in with loved ones.

Here is a list of actions you can take immediately to fight stigma and support those struggling with brain health: 1. Talk openly about mental and brain health, including sharing on social media. 2. Educate yourself and others. Respond to misperceptions or negative comments by sharing facts and experiences. Help people understand mental health as brain health. 3. Be conscious of language. Remind people that words matter. 4. Encourage equality between physical and mental illness. Draw comparisons to how you would treat someone with cancer, chronic pain, or another physical ailment. 5. Show compassion for those with mental illness. 6. Be honest about treatment. Share your own experiences with mental health to normalize treatment or offer to help someone get the treatment they need. No one should have to go through the process of getting help alone. Of course, share only what you are comfortable sharing. 7. Raise your voice when you hear stigmatizing language or stories of mental illness being presented in a stigmatizing way. 8. Check in with loved ones. Take interest and concern in the well-being of those around you. It only takes one person to notice and make someone's voice heard when struggling. While it may seem like a daunting feat to change personal and public perceptions, positive change on mental health starts with awareness and open dialogue on brain health.