Mental health promotion and non-profit health organisations

Health related non-profit organisations (NPOs) provide a potentially important but largely untapped role in mental health promotion in communities. This paper reports on a study investigating the activities and contributions made by NPOs to mental health and well-being. One hundred and eight NPOs based in the metropolitan area of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, participated in a survey exploring agency activities that contribute to promoting mental well-being; factors that helped or hindered the organisation in engaging in mental health promotion activities and evaluation methods and processes. An index of key themes was developed and frequencies derived from categorical data. NPOs undertook five key types of activities to promote mental health and well-being: support provision (81%); service provision (59%); information sharing (52%); activities to promote well-being (24%); and advocacy (6%). Systematic evaluation of longer-term outcomes was rare, with most NPOs (72%) relying on informal feedback from clients. Human resources in the form of paid or volunteer workers were most frequently (58%) identified as contributing to the capacity of agencies to carry out mental health promotion activities. Training and education emerged as a substantive need (34%). NPOs are well placed to enhance resiliency in the context of ongoing health problems, disability or other adverse psychosocial circumstances that place people at risk of mental health problems. As such they constitute a significant resource for advancing mental health promotion goals. What is needed to extend the practice and evidence base in this area is training and skill development for NPO workers, along with larger-scale research conducted in collaboration with NPOs to assess the contributions and cost-effectiveness of the sector.