The Talk to Granny initiative: societies world-wide seek whole society approaches to mental health

Abstract

There are nearly one billion people worldwide who suffer from some form of mental disorder. Of concern is that one in seven teenagers has a mental health issue and that pandemics such as COVID-19 precipitate mental health issues, while at the same time exacerbating pre-existing mental health conditions. The importance of mental health is increasingly being acknowledged. The inclusion of mental health in sustainable developmental goals (SDGs) is a case in point.  One multi-country study revealed mental health as having taken the second spot as a health concern in most countries. Of utmost concern are findings that these waves of mental health issues we are currently seeing are not solely attributed to the pandemic. The rise in mental health issues has been associated with a rising trend of structural issues at the workplace for some time. At the same time, the health care workers, who are the supposed carers, are themselves burnt out, overworked and fighting the same battles of juggling parenthood, work pressures, insecurities and toxic work environments. In short, they too have not been spared from mental health issues. In our view, finding innovative means to address the mental health issue is an urgent task. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) proposes a multi-sectoral integrated approach to mental health, going beyond mental health specialists, to include multiple actors and sectors from schools, teachers, line managers and community actors. As societies in Europe seek whole society approaches to mental health, we propose the “Talk to Granny” initiative. This proposal involves encouraging individuals to have conversations with their grandmothers, a free, tried and tested mutually beneficial resource generations have turned to in times of difficulties in most cultures