Fishers, IN – Today, as part of its ongoing, collaborative mental health initiative, the City of Fishers launched a community-wide campaign aimed at raising awareness of mental health challenges in our community and reducing the stigma associated with those challenges.
The StigmaFreeFishers campaign encourages residents to reject stigmatizing attitudes toward mental health and instead pledge to be stigma-free. Stigmatizing attitudes create social barriers for those dealing with mental health challenges, often keeping them struggling in silence and preventing them from proactively seeking treatment before mental health crises occur.
“Working to reduce the societal stigma associated with mental health challenges in our community is one of the recurring themes that the Mental Health Task Force identified over the last year,” said Mayor Scott Fadness. “We know that if we can get the community talking about mental health, we can reach some of those in our community that are living in quiet despair.”
The StimgaFreeFishers pledge challenges residents to:
• Learn more about mental health
• See the person, not the illness
• Take action by sharing their pledge to be stigma-free
There will be opportunities to make the pledge in person at various community events, like Fishers Farmers Markets. Those that take the pledge are encouraged to share on social media using the hashtag #StigmaFreeFishers.
Residents are also encouraged to submit their personal stories about mental health challenges online at www.stimgafreefishers.com. Stories will be shared on the City of Fishers’ social media pages using the hashtag #StigmaFreeFishers.