• Specific Programs That Fight Discrimination & Stigma


    • The Anti-Stigma Project was formed in 1993 by the Maryland Mental Hygiene Administration in collaboration with On Our Own of Maryland, Inc., a statewide consumer advocacy group. The project is a collaborative effort among mental health consumers, family members, providers, educators, and administrators, and is dedicated to reducing stigmatizing attitudes, behaviors, and practices within the mental health and substance abuse communities.



         The Institute of Living/Hartford Hospital is sponsoring an academic competition designed to decrease the stigma of mental illness.  The BrainDance Awards encourage students to gain knowledge about psychiatric diseases and develop a more tolerant and realistic perspective toward people with severe psychiatric problems. The competition also aims to promote students’ interest in careers in mental health care.


        Breaking the Silence is a series of recommended curricula for teaching children about mental illnesses, developed by three teachers who are also parents of children with mental illness.  Curriculum packets include lesson plans, posters, games, and recommended readings and videos.  There are separate curriculum packets for elementary school, middle school, and high school students.


        Compeer is a not-for-profit organization which matches community volunteers in supportive friendship relationships with children and adults receiving mental health treatment.  It has affiliates in most states and in some foreign countries.



       The Elimination of Barriers Initiative (EBI) is a 3-year initiative launched in September 2003 by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [SAMHSA] aimed at identifying effective public education approaches to counter the stigma and discrimination associated with mental illnesses.


        MIRA’s High School Awareness Project is designed to provide the most up-to-date  material on the brain and mental illness that is available to all Michigan high school teachers of Health and Psychology and to counselors.


        Created in order to educate the public about mental health issues and eradicate the fear, shame and stigma commonly associated with mental illness, NMHAC has as its primary goal the development of a nationwide, public service, multi-media education initiative.


        OpenMindsOpenDoors is a Pennsylvania initiative aimed at ending discrimination against people with mental illnesses.  The campaign is coordinated by the Mental Health Association in Pennsylvania.


        Provides a model for establishing anti-discrimination an anti-discrimination programme and has been used in many countries.  A summary of the programme and its results in many different countries is contained in a book by Sartorius and Schulze, “Reducing the stigma of mental illness,” and is also available online.