It is a great sign of progress to see mental health at the centre of both national and political discourse. 

For those who have been shouting from the rooftops for years, it is a great relief. 

One may say it may be a little too late considering lives that could have been spared if this happened earlier. 

However, that shall not deprive those who finally heeded the call of the praise and credit they rightly deserve.

Truthfully, it is about time to stop treating mental health as a backbencher in both the halls of national Parliament and in the congresses of the streets. 

It should not be just something that we talk about, but something we individually take seriously in our everyday lives. 

As much as we can call on the public health fraternity to do its mandate of ensuring the provision of primary health care services, it should also be an individual duty of every citizen. 

This must mean that, not only must we access mental health related services or watch over others for timely intervention, but we must conduct ourselves in a mental health-friendly manner.  

We must adopt a level of self-awareness and practice of daily introspection that may equip us with the mental capacity to be mindful of our words and actions.

Apart from the national and political commitment to pre-empting the further scourge of ill mental health on our nation, we need its spill over into other spectrums of our society. 

Firstly, and fundamentally, we need to initiate a national conversation on promoting mental health-friendly parenting. 

This is to ensure that the parenting environment of our children is equipped with the emotional capabilities that foster a mental health-friendly environment. 

This will be more important to ensure that we have a population that grows into focusing on national and patriotic matters rather than spending their adulthood recovering from childhood trauma.

Secondly, there is a great need to ensure that we find a mental health definition of our own.  

This includes defining the mental health root causes, prevention measures and remedies based on our history and culture. 

Simply adopting and borrowing western definitions and concepts may be why our progress on this matter may easily be hindered. 

Mental health challenges are not new.

To effectively address them may even require us to look into the history of those who came before us. 

This may enlighten us on how they maneuvered and kept mental health at a minimum, or even finding traditional remedial practices.  In countries like Japan, a person who may be going through a mental health crisis like depression or anxiety is sent to spend time in the forest. 

So, who knows? 

There may also be certain practices that our forebearers may have practiced but were thwarted by our complete adoption of western ways.

The call to take action on mental health is for all. 

It is both our collective and individual duty. 

Not that mental health deserves any special attention, but that it becomes just as equally significant as any other part of our health system.

 It is only by normalising it that we can also gradually and eventually rid it of the stigma attached to it. 

Our great hope is that it is not something that is only occasionally commemorated or vague like climate change, but something that even a toddler understands and daily takes care of their own mental well-being. 

So, until we see mental health as a parental and educational duty, we may eventually fail those who have ceaselessly fought and finally achieved the national and political commitment to address the mental health conundrum. 

Therefore, we must all commit, from today on, to ensure that our words and actions in interactions with others foster a mental health-friendly environment.

*Uncommon Sense is published in the New Era with contributions from Karlos Naimwhaka. YouTube channel: Karlos Lokos. – karlsimbumusic@gmail.com