6 Ways to Become a Mental Health Advocate

Written by Hannah Blum, author of The Truth About Broken: The Unfixed Version of Self-Love

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How to become a mental health advocate? You do not need a degree, a diagnosis or work as a licensed therapist to become a mental health advocate. The general idea behind advocacy is supporting mental health by spreading awareness, reducing stigma and supporting the cause. If you are looking for a way to become a mental health advocate, don’t worry I’ve got your back! Here are 6 ways to to become a mental health advocate.

Create a Mental Health Social Media Presence

Social media is a significant platform for spreading mental health awareness. Part of my advocacy is done through not only my blog, but also heavily on social media. If you want to see how I advocate on social media you can check out my platform on Instagram @hannahdblum.

Facebook and Twitter are great for starting a page or account. Post about mental health on a daily basis. You can post inspirational and motivational quotes, mental health statistics, short videos, imagery or anything that you believe will help educate others. It doesn’t matter how many followers you have; you are still making an impact whether it be 10 or 10,000.

Share Mental Health Media

If you don’t have the time to maintain a social media account or page, don’t worry. Share articles, blog posts, news articles, resources, videos and any content about mental health and support. You can share it on social media, email forwarding or text message these articles to friends and family.

Get Involved in the Mental Health Community

Volunteering and participating in the mental health community is a great way to show support as an advocate and be surrounded by your peers. I started out volunteering for NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness). If you are looking for volunteer opportunities I would contact your local NAMI affiliation. A simple Google search for mental health volunteer work and events will do.

Fundraise for Mental Health

Mental health is in need of funding for research, resources and raising awareness. Fundraising is a great way to advocate and raise money for a cause you are passionate about in mental health. For example, if you are passionate about suicide prevention, you can ‘Start a Campaign’ to raise money for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

FaceBook has built tools to help users fundraise for nonprofits. It is super easy! Learn how you can collect donations on Facebook by going to ‘Charitable Giving Tools’.

Other mental health nonprofits include:

• Brain and Behavior Research Foundation
• Treatment Advocacy Center 
• NAMI
• Mental Health America
• Trevor Project 

Blog for a Mental Health Website

If you are passionate about mental health and writing, then look for opportunities to advocate by contributing posts to already established websites or blogs. There are many platforms, such as WordPress, to start blogging. You do not have to have millions of followers to write a blog. Check out my post about blogging, 12 Questions Answered About Mental Health Blogging. 

Educate Others and Speak up for Mental Health

Educate others about mental health at the appropriate time, especially if stigma is present. For example, you are at a dinner party, and the conversation gets political. The person across from you says out loud, “People with mental illness are extremely violent.” This situation is a perfect time to step in as an advocate saying something along the lines of, “You know a lot of people think this, but recently I found research that shows people with major mental illness are more likely to be the victims of violence than other members of society.” Knowledge is power and spreading mental health awareness in casual conversation makes you a gold star advocate. If you are looking for more information or statistics about mental health go to “Mental Health By The Numbers  or “Mental Health Myths and Facts”

For more mental health content follow me on @hannahdblum

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