Mental Health Awareness Month 2026: Navigating “More Good Days” in Kenya

I. The History/ Why Celebrate Mental Health Awareness:
For many people, mental health is a topic with a complicated history shrouded in stigma and misconception. This is especially true in the Kenyan context where colonialism and its documented weaponisation of asylum structures left deep societal scars that we are still grappling with today. May marks a special time to commemorate the importance of increased awareness and importantly, increased action towards the reduction of stigma and the development of inclusive support systems.
The first official Mental Health Awareness Month in May was celebrated in 1949. This was the culmination of efforts by several individuals who recognised the unfair treatment of people living with mental health challenges. Notably, the first iteration was held as early as 1908, by Clifford Beers, a lived experience author and advocate who founded the Connecticut Society for Mental Hygiene. This organisation is now known as Mental Health America and sets the official theme every year (Psychiatry Advisor, 2024).
II. The 2026 Theme – “More Good Days, Together”:
This year’s theme is “More Good Days, Together” (Mental Health America, 2026) but what does this mean and what does this look like in our specific context?
According to the official website, this theme is meant to encourage thoughtful reflection on what a “good” mental health day can look like without the pressure of perfection or relying on someone else’s definitions. This means that a good day can also have bad moments but is considered “good” if it was manageable overall or it can simply be about how we spend our time, for example, with the people we care about (Village-Connect, 2026). The second part of the theme encourages us to think about how to frame mental health as a collective responsibility. To think more deeply about our environments, relationships and sense of belonging as factors that both affect and protect our wellbeing. This is a philosophy that is deeply connected to African ideologies of community and connection such as the concept of Ubuntu (“I am because we are”) (University of Pretoria, 2024).
In Kenya, where structural barriers, stigma and shame impact access to care, this theme is not only relevant but it is an important reminder that each of us can map out our own unique journey with mental health and that we have a responsibility to support the normalisation of conversations on mental health with the people around us, in school, in places of worship, among our neighbors, family and friends.
III. Some Stats:
To better contextualise the scale of the issue and the need for awareness, we might look at some of the statistics surrounding mental health:
In Africa most governments invest less than 1% of their overall health budgets in mental health, this is a low figure and is below the 5% recommended minimum for low and middle income countries (Inspire the Mind, 2024).
According to the Ministry of Health there is an approximate 75% treatment gap in Kenya (the number of people needing services compared to the number of people receiving them) (Ministry of Health Kenya, 2024).
The cultural lens in Kenya towards mental health often spiritualises mental illness attributing challenges to witchcraft or other unseen forces. In other areas it is also often misconceived as “madness” leading to increased social isolation and stigma against those who identify as having or having had mental health challenges (Inspire the Mind, 2024).
The Kenya national prevalence of common mental health disorders is around 10.3% and it is further estimated that about 42% of people seeking basic health care are experiencing severe levels of depression (Ministry of Health Kenya, 2024).
There is however, hope, innovations in community based models such as The Friendship Bench are supporting the normalisation of mental health conversations and the embedding of support within community ecosystems, underscoring the 2026 theme of collective care. Further efforts by advocates and policy makers are seeing shifts in the legal and social landscape with frameworks such as The Kenya Mental Health Policy (2015–2030) and the Kenya Mental Health Action Plan (2021–2025) developed in recent years (Atewologun et al., 2025; Ministry of Health Kenya, 2024).
IV. Practical Steps You Can Take:
There are many opportunities to support increased awareness this month. You may choose to start by focusing on self care this can look like; forming a regular practice of naming your emotions and may require that you learn more about emotions overall, prioritising sleep, movement and nutrition, reaching out to mental health support services or to a trusted friend or member of your community to talk through any challenges, and familiarising yourself with resources, such as those in our Therapy Resources Catalogue and Seeking Help Toolkit.
You may also participate, not just this month but in the general move towards supporting mental health by supporting others. You can check-in more regularly with your friends, family, work/schoolmates and neighbors, listen without rushing to find a solution to every challenge they may present, challenge stigma, misconceptions and harm when you encounter it (e.g. appropriately correcting people who use harmful language when referring to mental health challenges), take it upon yourself to learn more about mental health disorders especially from those with lived experiences and support caregivers who often experience burnout in silence.
Mental Health America also has more tools, activities and articles that you can reference throughout the month in their 2026 Mental Health Month Action Guide.
V. Other Key Events Held in May:
Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week: Held in the first week of May, focused on prenatal and postpartum mental health.
Mental Health Awareness Week 2026: May 11–17, 2026, this week hones in on self care and care for others. (Lindner Center of Hope, 2025).

References
Inspire the Mind. (2024). Afya ya akili: Mental health in Kenya. https://www.inspirethemind.org/post/afya-ya-akili-mental-health-in-kenya
Lindner Center of Hope. (2025). National mental health awareness month: May 2026. https://lindnercenterofhope.org/national-mental-health-awareness-month-may-2026/
Mental Health America. (2026). Mental health month. https://mhanational.org/mental-health-month/
Ministry of Health Kenya. (2024). Ministry of Health launches Kenya’s first clinical guidelines for mental disorders. https://www.health.go.ke/ministry-health-launches-kenyas-first-clinical-guidelines-mental-disorders
Psychiatry Advisor. (2024). Mental health awareness month. https://www.psychiatryadvisor.com/news/mental-health-awareness-month/
Atewologun, F., Adigun, O. A., Okesanya, O. J., Hassan, H. K., Olabode, O. N., Micheal, A. S., Ahmed, M. M., Ukoaka, B. M., Idris, N. B., Oso, T. A., & Lucero-Prisno, D. E., III. (2025). A comprehensive review of mental health services across selected countries in sub-Saharan Africa: Assessing progress, challenges, and future direction. Discover Mental Health, 5, Article 49. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44192-025-00177-7https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s44192-025-00177-7
University of Pretoria. (2024). Expert opinion: Ubuntu – solution to mental illness challenges. https://www.up.ac.za/news/expert-opinion-ubuntu-solution-mental-illness-challenges
Village-Connect. (2026). Mental health awareness month 2026: Creating more good days, together. https://www.village-connect.org/post/mental-health-awareness-month-2026-creating-more-good-days-together