Mentally Healthy City Townsville aims to support the communities of Townsville to flourish and thrive by heightening the focus on mental health and wellbeing.
An initiative of the Tropical Brain and Mind Foundation, Mentally Healthy City Townsville aims to strengthen and nurture an environment where citizens live, work, play, thrive and flourish. Mental health and wellbeing is everyone's business.
A mentally healthy city aims to strengthen and nurture an environment where citizens live, work, play, thrive and flourish. Mental health and wellbeing is everyone's business.
How is Mentally Healthy City Townsville different?
Mentally Healthy City Townsville is supporting the journey from a grassroots level by educating and empowering the local community to understand and maintain positive mental health and wellbeing.
Mentally Healthy City Townsville promotes mental health and wellbeing awareness, prevention and early education by providing resources of engagement, education and promotion in our everyday lives.
Whilst Mentally Healthy City Townsville is a first for Australia, this concept has been successful globally in cities like Philadelphia (USA) and London (UK) amongst others.
Why is it important?
Mental health and wellbeing is a significant public health issue throughout Australia.
Collaborative action in communities is a necessary step in improving the mental health and wellbeing in our communities.
Townsville has a suicide rate of 2.5 times the national average. (Buckby et al)
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have a rate 3 times the national average.
Mentally Healthy City Townsville works to develop resilience at the personal and community level.
Mentally Healthy City Townsville recognises mental health and wellbeing as a human right and builds capacity to improve self care, stigma reduction, and social inclusion.
Thriving communities deliver a range of benefits beyond the positive health outcomes including economic, social, cultural, educational and sporting.
Mental health and wellbeing is everyone's business