Interventions to promote mental health and prevent mental disorders are based on identifying the individual, social and structural determinants of mental health and intervening to reduce risks, increase mental resilience and create a mental health-friendly environment. Interventions can target individuals, specific populations, or entire populations.
Rebuilding the determinants of mental health often requires interventions beyond the health sector, so mental health promotion and prevention programs should involve the education, labor, justice, transportation, environment, housing, and social welfare sectors. The health sector can make a significant contribution by integrating mental health promotion and prevention into health care services and by promoting, initiating and, where appropriate, supporting intersectoral collaboration and coordination.
Suicide prevention is a global priority included in the Sustainable Development Goals. Greater success in preventing suicide can be achieved by limiting access to means of committing suicide, responsible media coverage, teaching social and emotional skills to adolescents, and early intervention. A particularly inexpensive and cost-effective intervention for reducing suicide rates is the banning of highly hazardous pesticides.
Promoting the mental health of children and adolescents is another priority that can be accomplished through policy and legislative interventions that promote and protect mental health and focus on supporting parents and caregivers to provide attentive and respectful care for children, implementing appropriate school-based programs, and creating supportive and safe environments for children in community and online spaces. School-based social and emotional learning programs are among the most effective strategies for promoting mental health in countries of all income levels.
There is a growing interest in promoting and protecting mental health in the workplace; legislation and regulation, organizational strategies, managerial training and worker-level interventions can also address this area.