Who are the instructions for?
These instructions are intended for regional and municipal decision-makers, professionals working in municipalities and wellbeing services counties, as well as anyone else interested in mental health and mental wellbeing.
Municipalities and wellbeing services counties should promote mental health in collaboration with residents, organisations and other stakeholders.
What is mental health promotion?
Mental health is an essential part of health and wellbeing. A population-based approach to mental health emphasises prevention and mental health promotion. Mental health promotion is a purposeful activity that supports and strengthens positive mental health – that is, mental wellbeing – for people of all ages.
The aim of mental health promotion is to strengthen the wellbeing of individuals, communities and societies by increasing and strengthening factors that protect mental health. These protective factors include, for example, a positive self-image, good physical health, strong family and friendship relationships, a sense of community and inclusion, effective social and health services, and a safe and pleasant living environment.
Mental health promotion can also help prevent mental health disorders by enhancing positive mental health at both individual and community levels.
Everyday environments
Mental health is built and strengthened through interaction with our everyday environments – functional environments where people study, work and spend their leisure time can promote mental wellbeing.
Mental health promotion can be strengthened through decisions and measures that enhance the resources supporting a functional everyday life and enable individuals to respond effectively to life’s challenges. Mental health promotion actions aim to increase and strengthen the resources, skills, resilience and adaptability of individuals and communities, while creating positive living conditions and environments that support mental wellbeing.
Mental health is promoted at different levels:
- At the individual level: Strengthening self-esteem, life skills, psychological flexibility and mental health skills, as well as promoting healthy lifestyles.
- At the community level: Increasing social support and inclusion, creating safe and pleasant environments, and strengthening the sense of belonging.
- At the structural level: Ensuring economic security and making decisions that reduce discrimination and inequality.
Mental wellbeing helps people recognise their abilities and resources, enhances enjoyment of life, supports studying and working, and helps build positive relationships and coping skills for the normal challenges of life.
Shared responsibility of municipalities and wellbeing services counties
The responsibility for promoting health and wellbeing, including mental health promotion lies with both municipalities and wellbeing services counties (Act on Organising Social and Health Care 612/2021, Sections 6 and 7). This work should be carried out in collaboration with residents, organisations and other stakeholders.
An amendment to social and health care legislation stipulates that wellbeing services counties and municipalities must jointly develop living conditions in ways that strengthen factors protecting mental health and prevent the emergence of mental health disorders (Act Amending the Health Care Act 1281/2022, Section 20, and Act Amending the Social Welfare Act 1280/2022, Section 7b).
Multisectoral collaborative interfaces
Mental health promotion is in many respects collaborative interface work. It should be approached in a multisectoral way within all activities of wellbeing services counties and municipalities, and it should be implemented via cross-sectoral collaboration between different stakeholders. Municipalities and wellbeing services counties should also collaborate with other actors, such as community organisations.
You can strengthen multisectoral collaborate interface work in mental health promotion, for example by:
- Establishing a local or regional working group for coordinating mental health promotion, consisting of municipal and regional actors in the area.
- Planning and implementing mental health promotion together with residents.
- Including the aims, measures and evaluation of mental health promotion in the welfare plan.
- Ensuring that mental health promotion is based on up-to-date research evidence.
