Wellness before illness
The focus is on wellness rather than on illness. Sleep, movement, connection and rest are not extras — they are the foundation, and they are learnable.
Self-care and relaxation
Mental Health Society · Jaffna
Mental health is not the absence of illness. It is a state of wellbeing.
Plain-language information about mental health and mental illness, for Sri Lanka — written to be read by anyone, not only by professionals.
Know the signs
Understanding what you are seeing is the first step to helping.
Depression, anxiety, psychosis, dementia, alcohol problems — what they look like, when to be concerned, and what treatment actually involves.
Mental health is “a state of well-being in which every individual realises his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community.”
— World Health OrganizationWhat is mental wellbeing
The focus is on wellness, not on illness
Mental health is not simply the absence of a diagnosis. It is the everyday capacity to cope, to work, to be with people, and to contribute something — and like physical health, it moves up and down over a lifetime.
Mental health conditions, or mental illness, are represented by symptoms that affect a person’s thoughts, feelings or behaviour. They are common, they are not anyone’s fault, and most of them respond well to treatment.
What conditions look like
Mental health conditions show up in thoughts, feelings and behaviour. Knowing what to look for is what turns worry into a decision to get help.
Common mental health conditions
Check in on yourself
Five questions, about two minutes, entirely private. A simple way to see where your wellbeing sits — and what would help next.
Simple self-assessment
The picture in Sri Lanka
Mental illness is common here, and most of it is treatable
10%
of people in Sri Lanka are known to have a mental disorder requiring clinical intervention
70%
of patients seen in hospitals or clinics are diagnosed with psychosis or a mood disorder
70,000
people in Sri Lanka are estimated to live with schizophrenia
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Dementia is increasing, and rates of suicide have gone up
Source: Manaveli project brief, Mental Health Society, 2021. Figures are undated in the source document and are being confirmed against national statistics.
Common mental health conditions
Start with what you are seeing
Each page explains the condition in plain language, what the signs are, when to seek help, and what treatment involves.
Simple self-assessment
How have you actually been, these last two weeks?
The WHO-5 Well-Being Index is five short statements about how you have been feeling. It takes about two minutes. It is not a diagnosis and it is not a test you can fail — it is a way of putting a number on something that is hard to describe.
Your answers stay on your own device. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Watch and listen
In their own words
Who we are
A website built by a mental health service, for the people it serves
Manaveli is a user-friendly and youth-friendly mental health website containing relevant basic information in an easily understandable format and language, which can be promoted by provincial mental health services to clients and their family members.
It sits under the wing of the Mental Health Society, a long-standing mental health NGO in Jaffna, in partnership with FGIP.