BANGKOK, 9 November 2021 – As part of the newly launched Every Day is Mind Day campaign, UNICEF Thailand is releasing two mental health toolkits on its website for young people and caregivers in Thailand to help them take care of their mental well-being and support their loved ones.
Jointly developed by UNICEF and the Department of Mental Health (DMH), the toolkits are a collection of introductory resources on mental health and offer practical tips and simple steps for understanding your emotions, building self-awareness, creating safe spaces, practicing self-care, supporting your loved ones and seeking professional help if needed. Every piece of advice is a reminder that they are not alone when facing mental health challenges.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the mental health of a generation of young people in Thailand, leaving many feeling afraid, lonely, and worried about their future and their loved ones,” said Kyungsun Kim, UNICEF Representative for Thailand. “We hope young people and their caregivers can use our Every Day is Mind Day toolkits to learn about things they can do every day to look after themselves and, when they feel ready, to start having conversations with each other about mental health. The more we all talk about it, the less stigma there will be about sharing our feelings and challenges.”
The toolkits, designed in two versions for young people and caregivers, are available for download in Thai and English on the UNICEF Thailand website. UNICEF is encouraging young people, caregivers, and education practitioners to download the toolkits and share them with their friends and networks.
Celebrities including Palitchoke “Peck” Ayanaputra, Sirinya “Cindy” Winsiri, Kitsakorn “TongTong the Star” Kanogtorn, Suppasit “Mew” Jongcheveevat, and newly crowned Miss Universe Thailand Anchilee Scott-Kemmis are also participating in the 7-day challenge on Instagram by sharing their everyday emotions with Every Day is Mind Day filters to kickstart conversations on mental well-being and promote access to mental health resources and services.
New UNICEF data in the State of the World’s Children report shows that at least 1 in 7 children around the world have been directly affected by lockdowns and warns that they could suffer from the impact of COVID-19 on their mental well-being for years to come. Even before the pandemic, an estimated 1 in 7 adolescents aged 10-19 were living with a diagnosed mental disorder globally.
In Thailand, 22 percent of adolescents are experiencing high levels of stress, 31 percent are at risk of depression and 22 percent are at risk of committing suicide, according to a DMH Mental Health Check-In platform which collected data of about 192,000 adolescents in 1 January 2020–31 October 2021.
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Download Every Day is Mind day toolkits for young people and for caregivers
Download Every Day is Mind Day filters to join the 7-day challenge on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/ar/398916098371358/
More information on Every Day is Mind Day: www.unicef.or.th/mindday
Campaign video: https://youtu.be/f_D_Y1ClcQY
Video with English subtitles: https://youtu.be/VHfjpLULwQY
