How to Use this Tool Kit

The tool kit tells the stories of how people in several communities took action to promote mental health, but it does not have to be read straight through from beginning to end. Rather, the relevant sections can be consulted as they are needed. For that reason we have included a detailed Site Index so you can turn directly to the section you’re interested in.

In Part 1, we introduce three projects that exemplify different approaches to promoting mental health at the local level: Inclusion in Community, Helping Skills, and Seniors’ Medicine Wheel. A background and summary of each project provides the context for Part 2.

In Part 2, we look closely at the actions taken by community members to bring mental health promotion to life. The process of promoting mental health at the community level is laid out in a series of steps, best represented as a circle - see Figure 1 below.

Figure 1: Mental Health Promotion Planning Model

It is important to view the community process as fluid rather than linear -- with the implementation steps forming a circular, or cyclical pattern rather than being points on a straight line arranged in a specific order. In taking action to promote mental health in your community, you will be constantly moving back and forth between tasks and stages, because in practice, the process does not have an ordered and predictable beginning, middle and end.

This planning model is a variation on a process that is tried and true, having been used by various groups for many years in efforts to improve their communities. We’ll use the model as a guide to explore the different steps involved in setting up a mental health promotion project.

Examples from the projects introduced in Part 1 will illustrate how the planning process actually took place in several diverse communities. The mental health promotion projects that we chose did not follow the planning model to a T by any means; they did, to varying degrees, address each of the planning steps in their projects. They are here to provide ideas for you to adapt to your own particular needs.

The illustrations and examples from the projects introduced in Part 1 ground the planning process in the real world context of community life. We hope that by reading these stories, you will take away some of the wisdom community members gained from their experiences, and you’ll be inspired to promote mental health in your own community.

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