Mental Health America of Hawaii (MHA) works to promote mental health, reduce stigma, prevent the problems associated with mental illnesses; and to improve the care, treatment, and participation of children, adults, and the elderly with mental illnesses through public education and advocacy.

MHA envisions a just, humane, and healthy society in which all people are accorded respect, dignity, and the opportunity to achieve their full potential -- free from stigma, prejudice, and discrimination.

Description:
Beyond shattering the lives of thousands of individuals, mental illness causes untold suffering for family, friends, and co-workers, who experience deep emotional and financial hardships. Mental illness is also quite costly to society, having an overwhelming financial impact on healthcare, homelessness, prisons, and the workplace, and the number of productive lives destroyed by mental illness.

Therefore, it is imperative that people with mental illness receive the treatment and services they need to regain improved health, and thus reduce the impact of the illness on themselves, the people around them, and society at large. Two things must occur for people to get adequate treatment: first, these treatments and services must exist, that is, there must be sufficient resources to sustain a good mental health care system; and, second, people suffering from mental illness must seek help and be able to find it. Key to both of these things is for the public to be educated.

A public that is well educated about mental illness will understand the need for, and support, the resources to underwrite needed services. A public that is well educated about mental illness will lose their negative stereotyping, myths and judgments about mental illness, and will recognize signs of mental illness in themselves and the people around them, and encourage treatment. People suffering from mental illness will feel less stigmatized and ashamed, and they will be more likely to seek treatment.

MHA has four program areas: Public Education, Information and Referral, Advocacy and Community Action, and Consumer Empowerment. MHA operates a daily "Finding Help" telephone line, and distributes thousands of copies of our Finding Help GUIDE, the only comprehensive listing of mental health services in the state.

History:
The organization was established in 1942 in Hawaii. MHA started the Suicide & Crisis Line in 1970; Family & Friends, a mutual support group, which became what is now National Alliance for the Mentally Ill-Oahu; Hale Kipa, a shelter for runaway youth; The House, Hawaii's first halfway house for adults recovering from mental illnesses, now Mental Health Kokua; Hawaii Families as Allies, now independent; and many, many other initiatives and programs.

Contact person: Marya Grambs, Executive Director, (phone), (email)
Office fax number: (808) 533-6995

Address:

1124 Fort Street Mall Suite 205, Honolulu, HI 96813 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.mentalhealth-hi.org

Directions:

We are on Fort Street Mall between Beretania Street and Hotel Street on Fort Street Mall, downtown Honolulu. If you're walking down Hotel Street from Bishop, turn right on Fort Street Mall. On the left side, just before Subway, is. . . (more)   Nearest Bus Stop: Hotel Street at Fort Street Mall, 2 minute walk