NBA star Kevin Love. “Today” show host Carson Daly. Local professional golfer Tadd Fujikawa. Sometimes it takes a celebrity to convince us we are not alone. These men have gone public about mental health issues as the movement #EndTheStigma is marching across social media.

“On November 5th, right after halftime against the Hawks, I had a panic attack,” Love wrote.

For Daly, “My very first panic attack … happened when I was a host at MTV. “You feel like you’re dying.”

Fujikawa believed for a time that his golfing career was derailed. “I’ve gone through ‘it.’ Anxiety and depression are too real,” he said, so if you need help, reach out “and don’t stop reaching out until you get that help.”

A growing list of celebrities share personal stories to advocate for mental health, including local musician Makana, singer-songwriter Demi Lovato and England’s Prince Harry. These public figures offer hope. Experiencing a mental health issue is common; treatment is effective; recovery is within reach. Like other chronic medical conditions, mental illness requires care but need not prevent us from attaining what we want from life.

Unfortunately, not everyone in our communities gets the mental health care that they need. Untreated mental illness, including substance use disorder, or addiction, is one of the roots of homelessness. When someone with untreated mental illness is living on the street, we have evidence that our systems don’t ensure access to care. High suicide rates across age categories in Hawaii indicate that people are not accessing appropriate care. We cannot allow stigma, or feelings of shame, to keep sufferers from seeking help. It is equally critical that timely and effective treatment is available.

At the end of this month, Sutter Health Kahi Mohala and Mental Health America of Hawaii will highlight this important public health issue through Mental Health Awareness Day at the state Capitol. We seek to focus on prevention and treatment opportunities, the organizations doing the work, and how elected officials can promote mental health in our state.

For the first time, we are teaming up, along with other organizations, to concentrate the attention of our elected officials on mental health. With our partners, we will continue to provide the information, education and solutions our leaders need to make decisions that will improve the mental health of our community.

Early identification and treatment of mental health issues lead to successful recovery. Serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder emerge most commonly in the teen and young adult years. If we catch the signs and symptoms early through tools such as mental health screening, we will be able to help young people avoid severe crises.

No age is too young to work on mental health. We can improve outcomes for our youngsters by supporting healthy bonding and attachment in infants and social-emotional learning during childhood. We can do this through our social, educational and public health systems.

Compassion fueled by understanding and education improves our community’s collective mental health. Compassion should be part of how we deal with ourselves and each other; it should play in how we shape our policies. Compassion for ourselves means we don’t minimize or ignore our own issues but rather seek help from others. Compassion for others means that we recognize the basic humanity in our neighbors and offer help when we see the need. Compassion in our policies means that we ensure people in need of mental health treatment can get it right away.

Together, let’s cultivate the conversation here at home that celebrities are stimulating nationally.

Let’s help develop this movement that can normalize the topic of mental health and eliminate the stigma and shame that prevents people from receiving help and seeing that hope does exist.

Michael Broderick is CEO of the YMCA of Honolulu, and serves on numerous boards, including as president of the Mental Health America of Hawaii Advisory Board. Leonard Licina has been CEO of Sutter Health Kahi Mohala since 2008.