Photo by: DJ Pierce
Saturday, October 10, was the World Health Organization’s annual observance of World Mental Health Day. Mental health includes emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act, and helps determine how we handle stress, make choices, and relate to others. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood (MentalHealth.gov). This day is meant to bring awareness to the significance of mental health on a global scale, and help us better understand the infinite value and paramount importance of fostering a healthy state of mind throughout our entire lives.
This year’s World Mental Health Day came at a particularly challenging time given the current state of the world. As we collectively continue to fight a myriad of complex public health, environmental, political, and social issues ranging from the coronavirus pandemic, natural disasters, and political and civil unrest, our mental health is being challenged now more than ever before.
While mental health awareness is on the rise, it is still a private and often stigmatized experience, particularly in underserved communities with limited access to health care.
This World Mental Health Day we want to recognize the challenges each of us face in maintaining strong mental health, so that we may better support one another while honoring the health practitioners and community workers who are doing the work to support the people who need it most.
Here at the Himalayan Institute, we would like to take this opportunity to celebrate the work our staff is doing on the ground in Cameroon to provide mental and behavioral health services, vastly improving the quality of life to patients through a combination of health treatments that include herbal medicine, homeopathy, yoga therapy, and lifestyle counseling.
Our free health consultations give thousands of people access to care they otherwise could not afford, and our mobile health clinics bring health solutions directly to patients in remote areas where services are often the hardest to deliver. While facing the day-to-day challenges and harsh realities of civil unrest amidst the coronavirus pandemic, they work tirelessly to provide services to the patients who need them most.
In honor of this year’s World Mental Health Day, we want to recognize the outstanding work that is being done by our team in Cameroon, who, while overcoming obstacles during these challenging times, have been delivering supportive mental and behavioral health services to those in need. Today we celebrate our amazing team, who are making this work a reality.
The Himalayan Institute’s humanitarian initiatives in Cameroon depend upon the love and support of our donors—the progress and development we have seen over the years could not have been possible without you, and for this, we are truly grateful. Together, we are creating peaceful communities throughout Cameroon.
