In May, people come together to highlight the importance of talking about mental health and encourage others to seek support and treatment. Mental illness can affect anyone, and according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, in the United States alone half of all chronic mental illness begins by the age of 14.
Every day on Instagram, we see people share their mental health journeys and connect with communities of support. From dedicated accounts around an issue to unique hashtags adopted by groups, these communities are helping to make illnesses that are often invisible to friends and family visible through photos and videos.
We are committed to fostering a safer, kinder community and highlighting these inspiring voices. For this video, we sat down with three people who have created communities on Instagram that offer much-needed support to others. This month, we’ll be using our own platform to show the video above to people all over the world, helping to raise awareness about mental health and the importance of finding support.
In addition to highlighting powerful voices, we are working to protect our community. In September, we announced new resources to connect people to vital mental health resources near them.
If you see a post on Instagram from someone who may be in need of mental health support, you can report it anonymously. The next time that person logs into the app, we will connect them to organizations in their country that offer help. We have teams working 24 hours a day, seven days a week to review these reports. We also display these resources when someone visits a hashtag page for a sensitive topic.
Beyond building better tools inside the app, we also work closely with organizations such as Crisis Text Line, National Eating Disorder Association and Samaritans.
I am inspired by the empowering voices on Instagram and how our community supports one another. If you or someone you love is currently struggling, visit instagram-together.com to find resources in your country.
