MOBILE, Ala. — Ahead of World Mental Health Day on Oct. 10, the Mobile County Health Department is asking residents to do something simple but often overlooked: listen to people who have lived through mental health challenges, and treat what they know as real expertise.
The health department is using the annual observance to encourage open conversations about mental well-being, reduce the stigma that keeps many people from seeking care, and point residents toward the local services available to them.
This Year’s Theme: ‘Real Voices, Real Change’
World Mental Health Day has been observed every Oct. 10 since 1992, when the World Federation for Mental Health established it to raise global awareness of mental health issues. The 2026 theme is “Lived Experiences Heard: Real Voices, Real Change.”
The campaign calls on communities, health systems and decision-makers to meaningfully involve people with lived experience of mental health conditions, and to recognize their insight as a vital form of expertise. That includes people who have managed a mental health condition themselves, those who have sought care, those who have supported a loved one, and those who have run into barriers when trying to get services.
Their experience, organizers say, can help identify gaps in care and shape support systems that are more responsive and compassionate.
Locally, the health department is encouraging residents to listen without judgment, talk openly about mental health and make room for the voices of people with personal experience. Those perspectives, the department said, can help families, schools, workplaces and service providers better understand what support looks like in everyday life.
‘Knowledge No Textbook Can Replace’
Dr. Kevin Michaels, Mobile County’s health officer, said mental health belongs in every conversation about overall health.
“Mental health is part of overall health, and people with lived experience have knowledge that no textbook, training, or policy document can fully replace,” Michaels said. “On World Mental Health Day, we encourage our community to listen, learn, speak openly, and connect people to care. When real voices are heard, we can make meaningful change together.”
What Listening Looks Like
For families, friends and co-workers, putting the theme into practice can be straightforward:
- Ask how someone is doing, and give them time to answer honestly.
- Listen without rushing to judge, diagnose or fix the problem.
- Use respectful language that does not define a person by a diagnosis.
- Ask people who have navigated care what helped them and what got in the way.
- Share information about local resources, and offer to help make the first call.
For employers, schools and service providers, the theme points toward involving people with lived experience when designing programs, policies and outreach, rather than consulting them only after decisions are made.
Local Services for Mental Health and Crisis Support
Mobile County has a network of organizations providing behavioral health services, crisis support, counseling and connections to care.
The county’s community health centers offer integrated services that address both physical and mental health needs, allowing patients to see a primary care provider and a behavioral health professional in the same system.
AltaPointe Health serves as Mobile County’s comprehensive community mental health provider and is a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic. It offers a broad range of mental health and substance-use services, access-to-care coordination and crisis services around the clock.
- AltaPointe Access to Care: 251-450-2211.
- AltaPointe Behavioral Health Crisis Center: The Mobile center provides 24-hour crisis assessment, observation, stabilization, medication, therapy and psychiatric care. Call 251-662-8000.
The Mobile County Health Department provides its own behavioral health services for adolescents and adults, including brief treatment and interventions for depression, anxiety, healthy living practices and coping with chronic health conditions. Appointments and referrals are available by calling 251-690-8822.
Immediate Help Is a Call or Text Away
Anyone in emotional distress can call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline and talk with a trained counselor at any hour. The line, which launched nationwide in 2022, is free and confidential, and it also helps people who are worried about a friend or family member.
Residents can also dial 211 to be connected with local counseling, social services and other community resources close to home. In a life-threatening emergency, call 911.
Part of a Month-Long Focus on Mental Health
The World Mental Health Day message comes on the heels of a separate push by the health department to keep youth mental health in focus after September’s Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. Health officials have urged parents to keep checking in with their children, to recognize warning signs, and to know where local help can be found.
World Mental Health Day falls on a Saturday this year, but the conversations it encourages are meant to continue long after the date passes.
The department summed up the observance this way: seeking help is a sign of strength, listening can be an act of support, and every resident can help build a community where mental health is understood, respected and supported.