Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for World Mental Health Day, observed on 10 October:
On this year’s World Mental Health Day, we reaffirm the expertise and leadership of people with lived experience of mental health challenges.
This year’s theme — “Lived Experiences Heard: Real Voices, Real Change” — reflects the fact that people are too often excluded from decisions about their own lives. Yet their insights are essential to shaping effective services and policies.
This is particularly true for young people facing economic uncertainty, climate anxiety and online harms, and for people of all ages affected by conflict and humanitarian crises, where disrupted services compound distress.
It also matters where care is received. Right now, over 80 per cent of countries provide mental health services in psychiatric hospitals. But people with lived experience frequently wish to recover in their homes and communities.
All patients have the right to access housing, education, work and social support in a context where evidence shows they are more likely to heal. I call on Governments everywhere to replace exclusion with partnership and invest in community-centred care.
On this day, and every day, let us reaffirm our commitment to mental health, remove stigma and build systems rooted in dignity and rights for all.