The mission of APA is to advance the creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve people's lives.
As our mission statement reflects, APA has a special opportunity and obligation to a help educate the public about mental health issues. And thanks to a new campaign, the Campaign to Change Direction, we are moving our public education efforts to a new level. The Campaign to Change Direction is the brainchild of an APA member and the founder of Give an Hour, Dr. Barbara Van Dahlen. Give an Hour, founded in 2005, is a national network of 7,000 mental health professionals offering pro bono services to active-duty military personnel, veterans and their families. It is and continues to be a change maker in the lives of military families — work that landed Van Dahlen on TIME magazine's list of 100 Most Influential People for 2012. Yet Van Dahlen's Campaign to Change Direction has the potential to make an even larger impact. APA is proud to be a founding partner of this exciting campaign.
The Campaign to Change Direction is rooted in the belief that education is one of our most powerful tools for fighting stigma and barriers to mental health care. The campaign tagline, "Know the Five Signs," encapsulates its mission: to create a common language about and understanding of emotional distress in an effort to ensure that people recognize and respond appropriately when a family member, a friend or a co-worker needs help.
To quote Dr. Van Dahlen, "This campaign began with the acknowledgement of some very basic truths. We all have mental health and we are all affected by the mental well-being of those we love. Although these statements seem self-evident, we see little recognition in today's culture of the importance of caring for our mental well-being or the well-being of those close to us … Encouraging all of us to pay attention to the basic signs of emotional suffering will help shift how we think about and address well-being."
The Campaign to Change Direction launched in March at a Washington, D.C., event featuring first lady Michelle Obama (see coverage in this issue). I was privileged to be part of the kickoff event. Other APA members participating in the kickoff event were Arthur Evans Jr., PhD, the commissioner of the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services for Philadelphia, and Randy Phelps, PhD, APA's senior advisor for health-care financing and a member of the Change Direction Steering Committee.
As in any public education effort, strength is rooted in many voices coming together to maximize reach. That's what is so exciting about this campaign and its very real opportunity to effect positive change. APA is proud to be working with such partners as the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Aetna, Booz Allen Hamilton, the Case Foundation, Easter Seals, Volunteers of America, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the American Psychiatric Association and the National Association of Social Workers on this innovative campaign.
It is my hope that this campaign will also be embraced by APA members as another tool to prevent or lessen the suffering associated with mental disorders. For more information about the campaign and how you can become involved, visit the campaign websiteopens in new window.