Mental Health America put together some resources in one place that might prove helpful for anyone just looking to talk, whether it be through a Warmline, a peer-to-peer chat, or if need be, a crisis line.
As you go through the holidays, whatever that might look like for you, it might not hurt to keep this link handy so that you can easily find a place to help feel a little less alone in what you are dealing with.
Kindness matters, and kids who see kindness not just directed at them, but acts of kindness that they witness second-hand, have fewer signs of anxiety and other issues.
But, as in most things, some groups are much more likely to see kindness and support directed at them, while others, especially minority and LGBTQ kids generally don’t see kindness around them as often.
Seems to me that is a simple fix for this. Work at being kind to everyone. It clearly matters to kids, and even though this study doesn’t show it, I would bet it matters to adults as well!
But, I will ask challenge you to go read the article because whether you give a coupon or not, the ideas are solid examples of the kinds of things you can do for someone you care about who is struggling. Often we avoid someone who we know is struggling because we are uncomfortable, not knowing what to do to help them. Well, here you go. Here are 21 things you can do. If you’re in proximity to the person, you can help them with necessary chores like laundry or grocery shopping, or simply accompany them on a walk. If you are maintaining contact with them at a distance, you can still have coffee together, offer a safe place to vent, or assist them with medicine copays. There are plenty of other ideas in the coupons and maybe just thinking about some of these examples will inspire some ideas of your own that would be appreciated by the folks you know.
What else? What can you do for the folks who need someone to simply be there and offer to help do something? Anything.
Or, what was something that someone did for you when you were struggling? What do you wish someone had done?
Feel free to share your own ideas.
I appreciate the fact that the current Surgeon General seems to understand that dealing with mental health issues in the US is not going to be one simple thing that makes it all better. This quote demonstrates that he understands that the problem is multi-dimensional and that any solution will also have to be:
This is an interesting way to think about writing, whether you do it publicly like Uddipana did, or just write for yourself.
I will say that his discussion around what people come into therapy for in terms of defining good mental health is often an issue. When I started therapy I wanted to not dissociate, because the dissociative states were proving to be more and more dangerous. But, it wasn’t like we could sit and discuss plans to simply stop, we had to dig into what happens right before I dissociate and learn better ways of dealing with that. (In my case, stress)
Even then, the desire to simply feel less stress is not always possible. It would have solved the immediate reason why I was in therapy, less stress would make me less likely to dissociate, right? But it also wasn’t sustainable because at some point life is going to be stressful. The key was not to avoid stress but to learn how to recognize it, acknowledge it, feel it, and deal with it in a healthier way.
So yes, I agree our definition of good mental health needs to incorporate much, much more than “not feeling sad, anxious, depressed, etc.” because we will feel those things again at some point. They are unavoidable, but succumbing to them without a proper response is not. We can, and should, learn how to do that.
