Mental Health is Everyday Living
We each have a role to play in reducing the stigma surrounding mental health challenges, and increasing mental health literacy, resilience and hope. It starts with our willingness to make OUR OWN mental health a priority because we ALL have mental health.
Your Mental Health
- Includes your emotional, psychological, and social well-being.
- Affects how you think, feel, and behave as you cope with life.
- Is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood.
- Determines how you handle stress, relate to others, make choices and perform at work or school.
Building a Healthy You
In addition to our classes and Foundations Building Blocks, we’ve also created a 5-point star to help you practice the following daily activities in 5 key areas:
- Permission
- Expression
- Kindness
- Inspiration
- Support
With this foundation of good mental health, you will strengthen your resilience and experience increased hope.
Permission:
- Give yourself permission to be yourself
- Give yourself permission to ask for help
- Give yourself permission to say no
- Give yourself permission to say yes
- Give yourself permission to use your voice to speak your truth
- Give yourself permission to set boundaries and communicate your limits
Expression:
- Allow the expression of your emotions through physical movement such as dance, exercise, yoga or hiking
- Allow the expression of your emotions through creativity by drawing, painting, building or imagining
- Allow the expression of your emotions through speaking to friends, family and counselors, or sharing your story in public forums
- Allow the expression of your emotions through writing poetry, letters or journaling
Kindness:
- Treat yourself with kindness through kind and affirming self-statements
- Treat yourself with kindness through acts of self-care such as rest, solitude or selective socializing
- Treat yourself with kindness by choosing nourishing foods to fuel your body
- Treat yourself with kindness by acknowledging your positive qualities
- Treat yourself with kindness by honoring all the ways you are taking care of yourself
Inspiration:
- Seek inspiration through your chosen spiritual practice
- Seek inspiration through soul nurturing books
- Seek inspiration through listening to uplifting music
- Seek inspiration through daily thought or meditation apps or books
- Seek inspiration by listening to other survivors’ stories
Selection and Support:
- Be thoughtful and deliberate in the selection of your support squad
- Include in your selection those who share your values of Permission, Expression, Kindness and Inspiration
- Include in your selection those who accept you as you are
- Include in your selection those who you trust to hear the truth
- Include in your selection those who are able to be responsive when you reach out
- Return the favor by being part of someone else’s support squad
Always Keep Fighting for better days ahead because You Matter!
— Our thanks to Barbara J Shaya, LPC of Mindfulness Counseling for her assistance with this resource.