Valletta joins partners up to join #StopStigma campaign for mental health

Parliamentary Secretary for Consumer Protection and Valletta 2018 Deo Debattista has teamed up with the Valletta Local Council and kellimni.com.mt to join the #StopStigma campaign to raise mental health awareness.

The website is a service which allows young people to meet their needs through a medium which they know well – the internet. Support and information is provided to all those in need.

Debattista has accepted to be the ambassador for the campaign to support this initiative of the Office of the Commissioner for Mental Health and the University of Malta’s Department of Mental Health, Faculty of Sciences.

“The well-being and dignity of individuals is a priority for us as a government, and such campaigns serve to raise more awareness on different mental health issues, available treatment through medication or counselling, and also push for individuals with such issues not to suffer in silence,” said Debattista.

“The message of StopStigma is clear. You are not alone or weak because you are suffering from a mental health condition,” she said, while encouraging others to take part in this campaign in order to raise more awareness on mental health issues.

Mental health awareness has risen in Malta after a young man escaped from Mount Carmel psychiatric hospital and committed suicide. After Xarabank featured a group of people who spoke of their experience with mental health, a man was reportedly fired for his declarations of mental illness made during the television programme.

The Alliance for Mental Health has repeatedly called on a psychiatric hospital to be placed within the confines of Mater Dei Hospital to reduce isolation and stigmatisation.