I knew even before looking that the short news brief from Associated Press under the headline “NC calls on churches with health promotion message” would have nothing about mental health.
Neither did any of the topics listed in the “Health-Related Bulletin Inserts for the Faith Community,” 57 documents produced by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Public Health and grouped under nine categories: asthma, cancer, diabetes, heart disease and stroke, injury and violence prevention, nutrition, physical activity, schools and tobacco. The inserts are aimed at preventing and controlling chronic illnesses and providing online resources for healthcare questions.
Division of Public Health spokes folks would likely point out that mental health does not fall under the purview of its chronic disease and injury section. Simply put, it’s not their job. And I say that with no intention of demeaning DPH staff, who like the majority of DHHS employees I’m sure conscientiously do their jobs as best they can for the public interest.
Truth be told, I doubt if anyone at DPH even thought about including mental health information in the health promotion. Nor, if they even knew of it, is it likely anyone at the Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services did either. Nor, apparently, did anyone at DHHS.
And that’s the problem. No one even thought about it. Just a small news brief, but how illustrative of the huge disconnect in both bureaucratic and public perception of public health and mental health. I dare say few other than advocates would have even thought about the omission.
Write me off as nitpicking, if you wish. After all, it’s not like the brief is going to make front pages anywhere and it’s highly doubtful it would make the evening news. But if you Google “NC calls on churches with health promotion message” in quotes for the exact phrase, it will yield 14 pages of results (10 per page) before you find the last listing. Twenty-nine pages of results without the quotes.
Granted, most of those listings are from news feeds a media outlet receives from The Associated Press. And who knows how many churches will ultimately participate. I hope many. The health issues being promoted are important and as important to those with a mental health diagnosis as anyone.
The pervasiveness of the press release is not the issue. But the missed opportunity is; the mindset behind the missed opportunity is. As missed opportunities go, it would seem miniscule. But those missed opportunities add up. And the small things, like including mental health with other public health issues, no matter how subtle, no matter how slight, help incubate change.
I’m certainly not suggesting that DPH and DMH/DD/SAS consolidate; heaven’s forbid that a legislator jump on Gov. Perdue’s consolidation bandwagon and suggest it — perhaps one day when integrated care evolves into reality.
For now, though, just having the divisions communicate a bit more would seem wise, both for economy of effort and to maximize each other’s messages. In a state whose mental health system has been so abysmal, in a state now under federal investigation, any opportunity to increase awareness and to promote public understanding that “public health” includes the entire body would seem an important one.
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