mental health month: intro and resources
guest post by Deidrene Crisanto
May is Mental Health Month! Here is an infographic about changing the way we think about mental health and mental illness:
This infographic is a good place to start, but I urge you to listen to the stories and first-hand experiences of people dealing with mental illness, check out resources and research, check up on your own mental health with professionals, and be mindful of others. Everyone deals with their own unique struggles, but these don’t limit our potential, and they do not lessen our value as individuals in any way.
If you feel comfortable sharing your stories and experiences about mental health issues, please do if you can. Honest and open conversation is important. If it weren’t for the stories and experiences people had to share with me, I would have never had the courage or motivation to confront the mental illnesses that I had dangerously tried to ignore for the better part of my life – and I wouldn’t have known what resources were available to me.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the resources out there, here are some good places to start as you explore what options work best for your situation:
Check out this website to read the stories of suicide survivors, many of whom deal with mental illnesses of their own: http://livethroughthis.org/
To find treatment services nearby, call 1-800-662-HELP
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline can be reached at 1-800-273-TALK.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness: https://www.nami.org/
Source for the infographic: http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/infographic-b4stage4-cha…
Here is one among many comprehensive lists of resources you can peruse: http://mentalillnessmouse.tumblr.com/helpfulresources
President Obama’s address about Mental Health Awareness Month 2013:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/…/presidential-proclamation-nati…
On May 7th, Regi Carpenter will be performing her original piece, SNAP!, at the Nelke Theater on BYU Campus – an account of her own experiences with mental illness and her time in a mental hospital as a teenager: https://www.facebook.com/events/101298126870737/
For BYU Students, the BYU Counseling and Psychological Services is free and can be extremely helpful and might be a good place to start: https://caps.byu.edu/mental-health
Young Mormon Feminists 
One Response to “mental health month: intro and resources”
[…] guest post by Deidrene Crisanto May is Mental Health Month! Here is an infographic about changing the way we think about mental health and… …read more […]