Mental Health Month Begins Next Week: Mind Your Health

For 65 years now Mental Health America has celebrated May as Mental Health Month and this year’s theme is “Mind Your Health.” Mental Health America and their nationwide affiliates have reached millions of people to bring awareness to the importance of mental health to overall health and wellness, inform people about how the body and mind interact, and offer tips and tools to protect and promote health.
Here are a few of the ways you can get involved with Mental Health Month this May:

• Take a three minute mental health screening to assess if you could be experiencing signs of a mental health condition.
• Social support can lessen the effects of stress on depression, anxiety, and other health problems. Create a plan to strengthen connections in your life and positively impact your emotional health.
• Learn about the effects of stress on the body and find tips to help cope with everyday stress.
• Find resources for help if you or a loved one might be suffering from a mental health disorder.
• Download the 2014 May is Mental Health Month toolkit for your organization for media and marketing materials, statistics, and information for public education.

For more information on mental health and its effects on adolescents, see our past reporting:
Annual Children's Mental Health Research & Policy Conference Wraps Up
Digging Deeper: Report on Justice-Involved Youth with Mental Health Needs
NCMHJJ Announces New Resource Center

Ashley Heinonen writes the Friday news roundup, opportunity board roundup, and contributes articles featuring information about juvenile justice reform to ReclaimingFutures.org. She graduated from Loyola Marymount University and is currently an assistant account executive for Prichard Communications.