Can International Business and Science Unite to Advance Global Mental Health in a Global Brain Economy?
Embassy of Canada to the United States of America
October 6, 2016
TARGET Mental Health Europe… and the facts are…
The Early Light of a Long Sunrise
It is like the early light of a long low sunrise. Night is ebbing. Dawn has awakened. But a tough, long day lies ahead. That’s how the fight against mental illness looks and feels. Yet, we can see streaks of progress across the morning sky.
By Bill Wilkerson, Executive Chairman, Mental Health International
Chairman, TARGET Mental Health (Europe)
August 3, 2016
Finding a Cure for Depression: Plausible Objective?
Finding a cure for mental disorders is a stated objective of the largest government mental health funding agency in the world, the US National Institute of Mental Health. Mental Health International found a consensus among leaders of business and science that:
“The goal of finding a cure for mental illnesses was a prudent and powerful incentive to attract broader public support and new funding sources for mental health research.”
By Bill Wilkerson, Executive Chairman, Mental Health International
Chairman, TARGET Mental Health (Europe)
July 18, 2016
Depression, trauma – Physical disorders with psychological effects
The MATRIX below demonstrates the powerful links between major depression and a wide range of chronic conditions which are now the number one public health challenges facing the world.
By Bill Wilkerson, Executive Chairman, Mental Health International
Chairman, TARGET Mental Health (Europe)
July 11, 2016
MHI TARGET Deadly Decade of Suicide
This series of articles will run weekly on the TARGET and Mental Health International websites
July 5, 2016
MAKING MENTAL HEALTH A GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT PRIORITY
Global Mental Health & Psychiatry Newsletter: Career, Leadership and Mentorship Program
By Eliot Sorel, MD
Newsletter Volume II, No. 2 June 2016
Global Mental Health: A Powerful Investment in the Economies and Peoples of the World
In 2007, Canada’s Ambassador to the United States, Michael Wilson, the country’s onetime Minister of Finance and an international business leader, said major issues such as “energy, security and trade demand international solutions and I absolutely include mental health in that.”
By Eliot Sorel, MD, Senior Scholar in Healthcare Innovation and Policy Research, Clinical Professor of Global Health, Health Policy & Management, and of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at the George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
And
Bill Wilkerson, L.L. D. (Hon), Founding Fellow, Institute for Mental Health, University of British Columbia, Chairman, Mental Health International, London, England and Port Hope, Canada
July 12, 2016
In March, 2013, the 5th US/Canada Forum for Mental Health and Productivity convened by Mental Health International at the prestigious Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto produced a powerful consensus among leaders in science and business that steps are called for to accelerate the translation of brain knowledge into improved treatments for brain-based mental disorders.
The Woodstock Tragedies
RE-RELEASE OF MENTAL HEALTH INTERNATIONAL
Guidelines for Working Parents To Protect Their Children Against The Risks of Suicide June 8, 2016
In light of the tragic events in Oxford County and the remarkable protest by high school students in Woodstock, MHI is re-issuing its suicide prevention Guidelines for Working Parents. This paper was originally released by Bill Wilkerson as Co-Founder of Global Business and Economic Roundtable on Mental Health. It has been updated and is being re-released given the continued urgency of this subject as reflected in the Woodstock tragedies. Read More >
June 8, 2016
BILL’S NOTE TO BUSINESS
KPMG REPORT DE-MYSTIFIES MENTAL HEALTH CARE SHORTAGE
‘Chaotic global Goals and metrics’ among factors driving incentive and structural misalignments that severely limit global mental health care. The elite global consulting firm, KPMG, has produced a report with the World Economic Forum that is one of the most telling assessments of the underlying reasons behind the lack of adequate care for those living with mental disorders.
By Bill Wilkerson, Executive Chairman, Mental Health International
Published on: June 6, 2016
A New Mental Health Plan Could be 'Turning Point' in PS Renewal
The federal government is poised to unveil a new mental health strategy that could be the “turning point” for an employer once dubbed the “worst of the worst” for its high level of chronic stress and depression among Canada’s public servants, said a leading mental health advocate.
Bill Wilkerson, chair of Mental Health International who is leading a pan-European campaign on depression, said a successful plan would change the way executives lead, managers manage and employees work, eliminating the stress that infected the public service like a “super bug” over the past decade.
By Kathryn May, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: May 31, 2016
Seven Steps Guide Towards a Mentally Healthy Organisation
World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Mental Health ‘Seven Steps Guide towards a Mentally Healthy Organisation’
April 19, 2016
CivicAction Mental Health Initiative, Comment by Bill Wilkerson
Executive Chairman, Mental Health International
April 18, 2016
Brain Capital for a Brain Economy
A call for a business-science partnership.
Bill Wilkerson Executive Chairman, Mental Health International
Download the PDF presentation.
March 29, 2016
New Overview of The TARGET campaign in Europe. (PDF)
www.targetdepression.com
February 18, 2016
Old News, New Again
HR Report story says depression and anxiety top the list of reasons people see their doctor.
Bill Wilkerson
February 18, 2016
Employers Must Address Emotional Trauma In The Workplace
In the wake of recent tragic events in Paris, employers must remain alert and responsive to the potential "emotional aftermath" of terrorist attacks among employees. Such events can cause considerable potential trauma and anxiety for workers, and employers have a responsibility to ensure that the workplace remains a venue of safety, security and open discourse. Read More >
by Bill Wilkerson, Huffington Post
November 30, 2015
Why workers need support after traumatic events: Paris attacks highlight need for help
In light of the recent events in Paris, Mental Health International released guidelines on how employers can help workers manage emotional trauma when there is a perceived threat to public safety. Bill Wilkerson, chair of the non-profit, received an honorary degree and delivered a convocation address for McMaster University Friday morning. Read More >
by Natalie Paddon, Hamilton Spectator, Nov 21, 2015
Life Will Go On, But This Is Not Business as Usual
Employers Urged to Take Seven Specific Steps to Help Employees Content With the "Emotional Aftermath" of France's 9/11.
London, England and Toronto, Canada
The chairman of a business-led workplace mental health campaign in Europe today counseled employers to be alert and responsive to the 'emotional aftermath' of the Paris attacks among their employees.
Bill Wilkerson, a Canadian who chairs the European Business Leadership Forum for Workplace Mental Health, and a European employer campaign called Target Depression in the Workplace this morning set out a seven-point guideline for employers in the wake of these traumatic events.
Monday, November 16, 2015 Read more >
Key Messages of Bill Wilkerson’s European Meetings and Speech Tour
Prior to the 2nd annual Business Leadership Forum in Rotterdam on November 12th, hosted by Unilever, Target chairman Bill Wilkerson, this spring and fall, is visiting six European centres to recruit interest in the Target campaign.
October 19, 2015 Read more >
Bill Wilkerson Hits the Road
Begins 6-city, 6-country speaking tour in Europe and US September - November
Since 2013, this Canadian has taken his pitch to employers for support of mental health to Dubai and 11 European capitals.
September 24, 2015 Read Press Release >
Mental Health International - This Website is a Free Public Resource
Introducing The Library of the Global Business and Economic Roundtable on Addiction and Mental Health
Special Link To The European Business Leadership Forum To Target The Impact of Depression in the Workplace
’THE TARGET CAMPAIGN'
Bill Wilkerson, Chairman
The non-profit company we call Mental Health International (MHI) was founded in 2013 by my colleague, Joseph Ricciuti and myself. This website contains strategies and analyses we have produced as we work across borders in North America and Europe.
This site is a resource for anyone with an interest in issues relating to business, the economy and brain health and specifically those brain-based, body-wide conditions labelled as mental disorders. This site, therefore, is not designed for interaction. It is a free resource.
Further, this site contains current/contemporary information but also the Official Library of the Global Business and Economic Roundtable on Addiction and Mental Health founded in 1998 and closed in 2011. Mental Health International is the Roundtable’s successor and the Library provides volumes of information, while dated, is still relevant to the cause.
It should be understood that MHI - like the Roundtable - is not a large organization with lots of staff. It is the mirror opposite of that. So I will continue to respond as best I can to inquiries and requests, but be assured, my effort in this regard will be imperfect.
As to the design of this site, we have abandoned completely all the standard headings and segment titles that web sites use today so visitors will understand this is a resource and not an interactive site.
Meanwhile, I can be reached at bill.wilkerson@mentalhealthinternational.ca - 905-885-1751. That said, given my European work and other matters, my availability is simply more limited than before.
Bill Wilkerson
Executive Chairman,Mental Health International
A Conflicting Picture
The “pipeline of new medicines” to treat brain disorders and injuries is at risk of drying up. At the same time, brain research itself appears to be “closing in” on the causes of brain-based mental disorders and national brain projects are occurring in many parts of the world.
Mental Health International - with the support of top business and scientific people - has proposed an International Business + Science Partnership for Brain Health in a Brain Economy to support a ten-point plan to accelerate the transfer of brain science into improved clinical care published by Nature Magazine and penned by the International College of Neuropharmacology (CINP).
To set out the “span of interest” and purposes of such a partnership for Canadian business leaders, MHI has launched a 10-month advertising campaign in Post Media newspapers across Canada, and on-line, in partnership with Lundbeck Canada, part of a global pharmaceutical research and development network specializing in the treatment of psychiatric and neurological disorders.
Some of the content found on the Mental Health International website library is sourced from the mentalhealthroundtable.ca website.
© 2013-16 Mental Health International (MHI). All rights reserved.
In 2015, MHI and Lundbeck Canada partnered with Post Media to produce a 10-month, national advertising campaign building the case for an International Business-Science Partnership for Brain Health in a Brain Economy. The campaign attracted significant interest, especially online, and we invite readers to have a look at the campaign by visiting http://business.financialpost.com/category/brain-health or clicking the Brain Health link below.
New
Narrative Report
Brain Health in a Brain Economy: Breaking Through
June 2014
The goal of an International Business-Science Partnership for Brain Health is to hasten the transfer of vital brain discoveries into vital clinical benefits for everyday people, thus changing the world’s experience with brain-based mental disorders over the next 10 years.
Visit the Financial Post website for articles and resources.