In all of the years I have done a May article related to Mental Health Awareness, I don’t think there has been a year where this information is more relevant than now. For those who have never faced adversity, this past year has hopefully presented us with challenges and given us the strength to face those challenges. While most of the attention has been focused on our nation’s physical well-being, the issue of our mental well-being has taken a back seat, so it is appropriate that we focus on it in this upcoming month.
One of the reasons why it is so vital to focus on Mental Health Awareness is that, as a culture, there still remains a great deal of hesitation in discussing not only the subject but, to a greater extent, our own personal state of mental health. We think nothing of calling a medical physician when we have a physical ailment, or sharing with friends and family if we have a recent medical emergency or procedure. This is not the case when it comes to our mental health. We tend to hide the circumstances or symptoms, hoping no one will ever detect or know what we are going through. We isolate ourselves when dealing with a mental health struggle, and even more tragically, we tend to withdraw from those around us who are showing symptoms of their struggle.
As in anything we attempt to confront and conquer, we must first identify it and call it for what it is. The Webster Dictionary defines mental health as: a person’s condition of their psychological and emotional well-being. Wikipedia also expands it and states that, from the perspectives of positive psychology, mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and to create a balance between life activities and efforts to achieve psychological resilience. This last word, “Resilience,” is vital as this is our ability to live not in the absence of trauma or struggle, but to use those experiences as a source of strength and endurance. The ability to control our mental health rather than to be controlled by it is a skill that requires deliberate effort each and every day.
I think it is important to state right from the beginning that we are all broken in one way or another. We have all faced trauma or struggles in our lives, which we carry with us every day. It is very easy to compare scars, but it is more essential that we share what we are going through or have gone through to empower those around us and provide an environment that encourages the ability to share their struggles. Through sharing, we can be a resource for each other, especially in a society with a very limited number of professional mental health practitioners. We are each the first line of defense in any mental health crisis, and without knowing it, each one of us could be the difference between another person’s reasons to live versus giving up hope.
We should all challenge ourselves to rise above simple conversations of sports, politics, or local gossip, to conversations that deeply impact our lives or those of our family and friends. We should not be afraid to stop and take the time to hear the answer when we say “How are you doing today?” for more information on mental health and what we can all do to support a healthy mental health, go to: www.nami.org
Locally, we also have some great work being done on the subject of mental health awareness, including many trained in the suicide prevention protocol of QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer). This is a program focused not on the tragedy of suicide, but rather on the hope that each of us can share to aid another during their time of despair. If any group, organization, or business would be interested in a QPR presentation, please contact me at (920)255-1100. I have provided suicide prevention presentations to groups as large as four hundred and as small as five. Remember, it’s all about cultivating and sustaining Hope!
