What’s New: Mental Health Awareness Month

We know that mental health is foundational to people’s overall well-being. When our mental and behavioral health are compromised, it creates a ripple effect in our lives, our families, and our communities. Good mental health creates a protective layer against  stressors in our lives, whether they be normal, day-to-day stressors that add up over time or life-changing crises that reshape our world. It helps us become and remain resilient and bounce back from hardships. Good mental health lends itself to better physical health – whether that’s through fewer stress responses causing tension and strain in our bodies, or our ability to stay active. It helps us avoid forming unhealthy relationships with alcohol and drugs that become dependency and substance use disorder. Good mental health helps us find and maintain employment, cultivate and remain connected to family and community, and remain stable in our lives and in housing. However, when mental and behavioral health are jeopardized or unmanaged, it leads to a host of adverse effects from isolation to incarceration, up to and including death.

Factors that help improve and maintain mental health are connection, supportive community, belief in oneself, developing and using healthy coping skills, exercising compassion towards oneself and others, and focusing on what we can control. Even with all these mitigating factors present, some people will still experience detrimental mental health symptomology. This is why it is essential that people have knowledge of signs and symptoms of impacted mental health, and that people have access to care, treatment, and supports.

Since 1949, May has been recognized as Mental Health Awareness Month. This campaign was initiated to call attention to, undo harmful stigmas, and address the challenges around mental illness ever since. We have certainly come a long way in terms of progress around mental health needs and access to care, and we still have a long way to go. This year's theme for Mental Health Awareness Month is "In Every Story, There is Strength." We know that when people are given a safe, stable, judgement-free space to open up about what they have experienced, it helps. We know that people's lives can improve, no matter what they have experienced, when they are given compassion, care, and access to treatment.

Regardless of the story that led you to support our mission, thank you for investing time, energy, and interest in FrontLine Service as we all continue this mission together. Thank you for caring for your community members, especially those who are most vulnerable in our society. Thank you for being FrontLiners!