Mental Illness Awareness Week (MIAW) 2024
Everyone is impacted by mental health conditions. One more time: every one of us, including the friends, family, and coworkers who don’t live with a mental health condition themselves, is impacted by mental health conditions.
One in five adults in the U.S. experiences a mental health condition each year, which impacts those who know and love them.
Since 1990, Americans have celebrated the first full week of October as Mental Illness Awareness Week after the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) lobbied Congress to create this critical awareness event. This year, Mental Illness Awareness Week is October 6 to 12 and World Mental Health Day is October 10.
NAMI believes that mental health conditions are important to discuss all year, and we are thrilled to participate in a global conversation during this awareness week.
Mental Illness Awareness Week 2024 Theme: “My Mental Health at Work”
This year, alongside the World Federation for Mental Health, the founders of World Mental Health Day, we are recognizing the importance of prioritizing mental health in the workplace.
Our theme for Mental Illness Awareness Week and World Mental Health Day is “My Mental Health at Work.”
From October 6 to 12, NAMI plans to highlight how our mental health is impacted by our workplace cultures. In our new resources, employers can find practical tips about how to better support their staff. Meanwhile, employees can learn about the resources available to them and how to advocate for mental health support at work.
Why the focus on mental health and work?
NAMI recently surveyed a nationally representative sample of full-time employees, who work at a company with at least 100 employees, across multiple industries, which revealed the importance of workplace mental health awareness and action in the U.S.
Awareness & Education
- 74% of full-time employees in the U.S. say it’s appropriate to discuss mental health concerns at work. Only 58% say they feel comfortable doing so.
- 1 in 3 full-time employees say their mental health has declined because of work in the past year.
- Burnout is a common problem, with over half of respondents reporting feelings of burnout. Half (52%) of employees reported feeling burned out in the past year because of their job, and 37% reported feeling so overwhelmed it made it hard to do their job.
- Employees who are less comfortable talking about their mental health at work are more likely to report feeling burnout and their mental health declining because of work.
Culture of Caring
- 4 in 5 (83%) employees agree mental health and well-being training is, or would be, important in creating a positive workplace culture.
- But 7 in 10 senior-level employees say they have not received workplace training about how to talk to their team about mental health.
- Only half (51%) say their employer offers or requires mental health and well-being trainings, resources, or events
– providing a significant opportunity for employers to close that gap.
Access to Services, Care, and Support
- 9 in 10 employees say employer-sponsored mental healthcare coverage is important for creating a positive workplace culture. This is true for employees regardless of gender, age, stage in career, or managerial status.
- About 1 in 5 say it is hard to find mental healthcare through their employer that is affordable, in network, and available in a timely manner.
- 1 in 4 employees say they don’t know if their employer offers mental health coverage – showing the need for more communication from employers.
