Mental Health Awareness

The month of May is Mental Health Awareness Month. By bringing awareness to mental health struggles, we hope to break the stigma and educate ourselves and others about practices that can help mental health and also advocate for policies that help those who are struggling with mental illness.

In 2020, 1 in 5 adults experienced a mental illness and 1 in 20 experienced a serious mental illness. The pandemic impacted us in many ways, and let’s be honest-it is not over. Not only were people questioning and worrying about their physical health, but mental health started to come to the forefront.

In 2020, 4.9 million people were not able to access mental health care, and 7.3 million experienced a delay or halt in receiving their prescriptions. We were no longer able to push aside or ignore our mental health during the pandemic, and now that we are in 2022, we should abandon it again just because we are out of lockdown.

So during this month, let's make a commitment to be available to others and ourselves to talk about mental illness and coming along one another. Whether that be going on a walk, meeting up for coffee, or helping someone find a therapist-we need to support another through the challenges of life and mental illness.

Emergency hotlines:

National Suicide Hotline- 1-800-25-TALK (8255)

Chestnut Health Crisis Line- 618-877-4420