Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion Common Approaches Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion “[P]rocess for enabling individuals and communities to increase control over the determinants of health and thereby improve their health”* Health Promotion Empowerment, Resiliency, Self Efficacy Mental Health Promotion “Mental Health promotion uses strategies that foster supportive environments and individual resilience, while showing respect for equity, social justice, interconnections and personal dignity”** [Earlier in the day, some conference participants will have heard a presentation entitled “Population Mental Health: What are the Needs For A Comprehensive Public Health Practice” by Pascale Mantoura.] Approaches to address chronic disease and improved mental health are similar. The first International Conference on Health Promotion (co-sponsored by CPHA, WHO and Health Canada), which gave birth to the influential “Ottawa Charter for Health for Health Promotion”, and increased the impact of a dialogue first developed during the 70s with regard to the importance of individuals’ participation in their own health as well as how society could better influence the social determinants of health. Health promotion and mental health promotion share common approaches to improving health. Approaches aimed at improving outcomes related to chronic disease and mental health both stress the importance of individual and community involvement in controlling the factors that promote good health and cause ill health. Distinguish between mental health prevention and mental health promotion] Promotion – population at large…woefully uncoordinated, sporadic and underfunded. Prevention – not necessarily better funded, but maybe better understood, as decision-makers have reflex to help populations at-risk Both approaches can occur in various settings (however promotion activities tend to occur more often in generic settings, such as homes, schools, workplaces, community, hospitals, etc.). *Source: First International Conference on Health Promotion, Ottawa, 21 November 1986 (aka The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion). **Source: Centre for Health Promotion, Proceedings from the International Workshop on Mental Health Promotion. University of Toronto, June 1996.

Mental Health Promotion and Prevention seeks to enhance mental health, rather than prevent illness, and can serve the population at-large (i.e. healthy populations, populations at risk and people affected by mental illness). Mental health promotion can be seen as a type of preventive approach, as well. Prevention We need a wide range of strategies to address acute needs / crisis promote strengths associated with good mental health (increase protective factors that help people flourish (Keyes, 2007)) help people at risk avoid or minimize risk factors (such as precarious housing, food insecurity, income insecurity) 10 years ago, we wrote in the third edition of A Framework for Support…[read quote] We have come a long way in 10 years. Thankfully, things are changing. Increasing number of stakeholders and ministries involved in health promotion and mental health; Opportunities like this to recognize the real connection – from a person centred perspective – between a person’s physical health and their mental health Mental Health Commission: Housing First – At Home Chez Soi projects across Canada, which clearly demonstrate the value of investing in supportive housing as part of a person’s recovery from mental illness Thankfully things are changing. [Next slide] DIETICIANS OF CANADA: “Alarmingly, childhood hunger has been associated with depression and suicide ideation in adolescence and early adulthood [199]; adolescents in food insecure households have also been found to have higher rates of depression, suicide ideation and suicide attempts [176]. Among food insecure adults, there are significant mental health concerns, with rates of depression, in particular, that are much higher than in the general population [42, 178, 179].[…] One study found that the severity of food insecurity increases when mental health problems combine with alcohol or drug problems or domestic violence [53].” generally targets populations at risk of developing mental disorders at any stage along the life course; works on eliminating or minimizing factors that cause or contribute to the incidence of mental illness