This May, Mental Health Awareness Month, a designated national campaign titled is being held to challenge Americans to back the dialogue on mental health with practical, everyday actions by revealing that resilience is not about ‘toughing it out’ alone but building support systems, leveraging existing assets, and taking practical and manageable steps. With thousands of Americans still overwhelmed this year, this campaign intends to translate awareness into practical and doable actions.
Throughout the “Remarkably Resilient Together” campaign, the organizers have emphasized three focus areas during Mental Health Awareness Month: end stigma, get educated, and get connected with resources. Instead of jumpstarted crisis, the emphasis is on recognizing early warning signs of change in sleep, appetite, motivation, and patience and on asking for help and providing support before a crisis. Toolkits and websites contain suggestions for conversations, selfcheck questions to ask, and how to respond if someone discloses that they are having a hard time.
One of the main ideas of Remarkably Resilient Together is that we all have a role to play. Jobs and schools and organizations and communities can provide flexibility, time for emotional development, a sense that they value their team members as whole people; homes can foster comfort and acceptance; individuals can normalize asking how one another is faring. Leaders can embody a culture of compassion, not perfection, by both themselves using and normalizing check ins and providing encouragement.
The campaign also recognizes that what constitutes resilience varies across populations. An individual living with chronic illness, discrimination or poverty may require very different resources from an individual experiencing acute stress. It calls for policymakers and institutions to work to remove structural barriers such as unaffordable care or dangerous neighborhoods as well as promoting adaptive, self-managed responses.
For people, Mental Health Awareness month is framed as an invitation, not a mandate. ‘Remarkably Resilient Together’ offers up the following: pick one small thing to do, such as make an appointment for your first therapy session, send a text to ask how a friend is doing, draw the line at work, or research resources available in your neighborhood. The message is straightforward resilience is developed step by step, and nobody has to go it alone.
Source: Remarkably Resilient Together Encourages Practical Action During Mental Health Awareness Month
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