10 October 2021
Do something CRAZY to break the stigma of mental illness
Covid-19 is causing a lot of detours in life … We cannot host Crazy for Walking events, however you can still do something CRAZY to break the stigma of mental illness.
Walk, camp, cycle, phone a friend, have a coffee on the side walk and talk to neighbors… take a “detour” on 10 October to celebrate World Mental Health Day.
contact info@crazyforwalking.co.za for more information
Show your support for Mental Health by wearing your craziest socks on 10 October – World Mental Health Day. Share your photos on the Crazy for Walking Facebook page @crazyforwalking
contact info@crazyforwalking.co.za for more information
During the early days of mental health treatment, asylums often restrained people who had mental illnesses with iron chains and shackles around their ankles and wrists. Two hundred years ago, a Psychiatrist , Phillipe Pinel, released the patients from these chains and molded the chains into a bell. With better understanding and treatments, this cruel practice has stopped.
The Mental Health Bell, has become a sign of hope and victory for the mentally ill.
The Crazy for walking campaign is a first ever, national joint initiative and “symbolic ringing of the mental health bell” in de-stigmatizing mental illness and campaigning for mental wellness by the National Hospital Network private Psychiatric hospitals.
Francois Louw – Crazy for Walking CEO & Director NHN (National Hospital Network)
Two hundred years ago, at a time when people with Mental illness were kept in chains, a Psychiatrist, Phillipe Pinel released the patients from these chains and molded the chains into a bell. He rang this bell for the liberation of people with Mental illness and asked others to do the same. Other chains were also melted into bells.
A symbolic of this is the bell in Baltimore, USA, with the inscription of: “Cast from shackles which bound them, this bell shall ring out hope for the Mentally ill in victory over Mental illness.”
For the most part people with Mental illness are no longer kept in Mental chains, but there are still many symbolic chains, which bind them. The stigma in psychiatry and prejudice against Mental Health Care Users still exists.
Source: http://www.vistaclinic.co.za/index.php/ring-out-hope-for-mental-health
The original Crazy for Walking route stretched over 1500 km for a period of 5 weeks, which started on 4 September 2017 in Pretoria and ended in Cape Town, on International World Mental Health Day – 10 October 2017.
