Revised state budget
Government launches new public health campaign focusing on mental health
News story | Date: 12/05/2022 | Ministry of Health and Care Services
The government wants to boost mental public health. This is why ‘ABC For Good Mental Health - A Public Health Campaign’ is being launched. Its goal is to increase public knowledge about mental health, promote good mental health and prevent mental illness.
‘We know that doing something active, doing something together with others and doing something meaningful can all have a significant impact on people’s quality of life, including those who are struggling with mental illness. At the same time, these activities can also help to prevent the development of mental illness, which is why we are now taking the “ABC For Good Mental Health” campaign to the next level,’ says Ingvild Kjerkol, Minister of Health and Care Services.
Pilot in Trøndelag
ABC stands for Act, Belong, Commit, while in Norwegian it means A: Do something active. B: Do something together, C: Do something meaningful. Initially, Trøndelag county municipality will run a pilot which will form the basis of a nationwide public health campaign. The pilot is scheduled to take place from 2022 to 2024.
It is well-established that activity, a sense of social belonging and engaging in meaningful activities can all contribute to ensuring good quality of life and mental health. A key element of the ABC for better mental health and a good quality of life is that it is well-suited to being used in many different settings. A national awareness campaign will simplify the implementation of the ABC approach in a wide variety of settings.
More knowledge needed
Over the decades, we have delivered successful campaigns focusing on lifestyle habits and physical health. Nowadays, the vast majority of people know that smoking is harmful, exercise is good for them and that eating fruit and vegetables is healthy. In the area of mental health, we have not seen public health awareness campaigns with the same degree of clarity and visibility. The government wants to change this through its ‘ABC For Good Mental Health’ initiative.
A public health campaign based on ABC will be based on solid foundations in the form of extensive mental health research, experiences in Australia and Denmark, and measures undertaken in Norway as a whole, and specifically the Trøndelag Public Health Alliance.