Today we celebrate World Mental Health Day. At Ommej, we constantly talk about resilience and about creating good conditions for children and young people to feel good. Today, we know that this is done by working preventively and catching early signs of things that rub off, so that children and young people get the right help in good time.
In Ommej, children can tell about their existence, in a way that helps adults see what the child really needs. Because it is when we fail to see the actual needs that we create a breeding ground for problems to grow bigger. It can lead to lifelong problems for the individual child – in fact, one in two adults suffering from mental illness began experiencing symptoms before the age of 14. Often the consequences of mental illness also spill over into the family, the school and the whole community.
Mental illness is one of the most common reasons for sick leave, not only for the person who is affected but also for their relatives. Therefore, it costs far too much, above all in human capital, to wait until it is too late.
The famous work "The Scream" is probably familiar to most people. But what many may not know is that Edvard Munch's father and sister both suffered from mental illness, while the Norwegian artist himself struggled with recurrent depression and was hospitalized for a nervous breakdown.