Social Justice for People with Mental Illness Campaign

In many cultures, the butterfly symbolizes the psyche or soul; they are also believed to signify change, rebirth and resurrection due to their life cycles. Butterflies that are blue in color are thought to represent joy, wonder and wish fulfilment. The most breath taking of all blue butterflies is the Blue Morpho, or Morpho menelaus, which lives in the tropical rainforests of Latin America and is one of the largest butterflies in the world. Its iridescent blue wings represent change and embody the aims of the WPA’s Social Justice for People with Mental Illness Campaign - to change how people with mental illness are perceived across the world.

The WPA launched its Social Justice Campaign and the Bill of Rights for People with Mental Illness on World Mind Matters Day 2016, with the Blue Morpho as its symbol. After a study of 193 member states of the United Nations found that over two thirds of them did not offer any protection of basic human rights to people with mental illness despite having signed the United Nations Convention.