ORGANIZATIONS THAT FIGHT
DISCRIMINATION AND STIGMA

Each of the organizations below has as one of its goals the reduction of mental illness stigma.  For some, stigma reduction is a major focus of their activities; for others it is one of many functions.  Descriptions below are taken from the organizations' materials.  To learn more about an organization, simply click on the name.

·           Achieving the Balance: A Resource Kit for Australian Media Professionals for the Reporting and Portrayal of Suicide and Mental Illnesses provides valuable information to media professionals on how to sensitively and compassionately report and portray suicide and mental illnesses.

·          The Resource Center to Address Discrimination and Stigma is program of the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) aimed at assisting individuals and public and private organizations in creating programs and campaigns to reduce discrimination and stigma associated with mental illnesses.

·         The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law is devoted to legal advocacy for the civil rights and human dignity of people with mental disability.

·          BPD Central is a list of resources for people who care about someone with borderline personality disorder (BPD). They are one of the oldest and largest sites about BPD on the web.

·         A site including lesson plans, games, and posters designed to encourage education about mental illnesses in schools.

·         This program, founded by former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, promotes awareness, initiates educational messages and symposia, and addresses public policy issues related to mental health on state, national, and international levels.  The Rosalynn Carter Fellowships in Mental Health Journalism selects, supports, and mentors journalists as they complete projects related to mental health.

·         The Center is a research, training, and service organization dedicated to improving lives of persons who have psychiatric disabilities.  It is affiliated with Boston University.  

·         Compeer is a not-for-profit organization which matches community volunteers in supportive friendship relationships with children and adults receiving mental health treatment.  It has affiliates in most states and in some foreign countries.

·          This site is oriented towards those in the entertainment industry and offers information about mental illness and suggestions for ways to depict mental illnesses in order to help combat stigma.  

·          Erase the Stigma is an ongoing project of WPSU-FM at Penn State Public Broadcasting designed to raise awareness of and encourage dialogue about mental illnesses and its impact on Central Pennsylvania.  It was funded in part through Penn State University's Outreach and Cooperative Extension Project Innovation Fund.

·         Mind is the leading mental health charity in England and Wales, and works for a better life for everyone with experience of mental distress.

·          MindMatters, a mental health promotion program for secondary schools is an Australia-wide program being conducted by the Australian Principals Associations Professional Development Council (APAPDC) and the
Curriculum Corporation (CC) with funding from the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care.

·         NAMI (formerly called National Alliance for the Mentally Ill) is a large grassroots organization dedicated to improving the lives of people with severe mental illnesses.  The majority of its over 210,000 members are people who have relatives with mental illnesses, but a growing number of members are people who themselves have been diagnosed with psychiatric disorders.

·         The NDMDA is a not-for-profit organization working to educate concerning depressive and manic-depressive disorders, foster self-help, eliminate discriminatiion and stigma, improve access to care, and advocate for research regarding these disorders.       

·         The mission of the National Empowerment Center is to carry a message of recovery, empowerment, hope, and healing to people who have been diagnosed with mental illnesses.

·         The National Mental Health Association is the United States' oldest non-profit organization addressing mental health and mental illnesses through education and advocacy.  The Association has over 340 affilitates nationwide.   

·          Created in order to educate the public about mental health issues and eradicate the fear, shame and stigma commonly associated with mental illness, NMHAC has as its primary goal the development of a nationwide, public service, multi-media education initiative.

·         This is a consumer-run national technical assistance center serving the mental health consumer movement.  The Clearinghouse helps connect individuals to self-help and advocacy resources and offers expertise to self-help groups and other peer-run services for mental health consumers.

·         The National Stigma Clearinghouse was created to track and respond to stigmatizing media images of mental illnesses and to provide information about stigma to concerned activitists.                

·          OpenMindsOpenDoors is a Pennsylvania initiative aimed at ending discrimination against people with mental illnesses.  The campaign is coordinated by the Mental Health Association in Pennsylvania.             

·         SANE Australia is a national charity helping people affected by mental illness, and works in partnership with a number of Australian and International Groups.   SOS is a community advocacy and educational outreach program designed to positively change the public perception of mental illnesses and inform the community about the personal, social, economic and political challenges faced by people living with mental illnesses.

·         The WFMH is an international, non-profit organization that works to advance, among all peoples and nations, the prevention of mental and emotional problems, proper treatment and care of those with such disorders, and promotion of mental health.

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