Mental Health is Everyday Living
Make the Pledge to #TakeCareofYou
Our ability to make a difference in mental health education, awareness, suicide prevention and reducing the stigma surrounding mental health challenges starts with YOU and your willingness to make YOUR mental health a priority.
Why?
Mental Health is Everyday Living
Mental Health includes your emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how you think, feel, and act as you cope with life. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood, because it determines how you handle stress, relate to others, make choices and perform at work or school.
AKF Squad is our new education program designed to help you build a foundation of good mental health.
It uses a 5-point star to help you practice 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.
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Be thoughtful and deliberate in the selection of your AKF 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 AKF Squad
Always Keep Fighting for better days ahead because #YouMatter!
— Our thanks to Barbara J Shaya, LPC of Mindfulness Counseling for her assistance with AKF Squad.