World Mental Health Day 2025
October 10, 2025
Today, October 10, marks World Mental Health Day, with this year's theme being, "Access to Services - Mental Health in Catastrophes and Emergencies." The theme is meant highlight the importance of providing mental health support to people affected by crises, including conflict, famine, and natural disasters.
According to Devora Kestel, Director (a.i.) for the Department of Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health at World Health Organization, about 305 million people will require humanitarian assistance and protection in 2025. Meanwhile, 1 in 5 people in emergencies lives with a mental health condition, yet many humanitarian responses treat mental health support as optional. She adds, there are an estimated 67 million people with mental health disorders living in conflict, disaster, or displacement.
In recent years, there has been an increasing number of countries that are prepared for mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) in emergencies. Whereas in 2019, only 28% of countries were MHPSS prepared, now 48% are. Similarly, whereas in 2019, less than half of the emergencies had an MHPSS coordination mechanism, now 71% of them do.
The MHPSS Minimum Services Package, developed to be deployed by all sectors in all emergencies, provides guidance on coordinating essential activities and to ensure they reach the affected people. The MPS is slowly being adapted at the response level but there is a lot of work to be done on this front.
At PeerWorks, our work is rooted in Ontario, where we strive to strengthen, amplify, and deepen diverse peer voices across the province through community building, information-sharing, collaboration, advocacy, and education. Yet, the issues highlighted by this year’s World Mental Health Day theme inevitably touch us as well. People affected by global crises, including those displaced by conflict or disaster may find themselves in Ontario. As such, it’s important for us to consider how we, as a peer-led community, can better support those navigating new environments, systems, and the trauma of displacement.
Our vision is a world in which lived experience is valued, peer autonomy and peer culture are embraced and protected, diversity is respected, and Peer Support is accessible to all. This includes recognizing that crises—whether local or global—affect us all, and that building inclusive, compassionate, and resilient peer networks is essential to supporting wellness and recovery for everyone.