May is Mental Health Awareness Month! But…What is it all about?
Started in 1949 by Mental Health America (MHA), Mental Health Month is celebrated from May 1 to May 31. MHA uses this month to incentivize everyone, from regular people to organizations, to start raising awareness and educating their communities on why taking care of your mental health is essential to leading a happy and healthy life. Over time, MHA has seen how creating a dialogue about mental health has worked to destigmatize mental illness and encourage people who otherwise wouldn’t have sought help to seek treatment.
How Can You Get Involved?
This year, due to the rise in mental health conditions since the onset of the pandemic in 2020, MHA has dedicated their Mental Health Month theme to taking it “Back to Basics.” This means that MHA is using its platform to reintroduce simple concepts surrounding mental health to the public. MHA has created various free teaching tools and fact sheets to get their educational information out and into the collective–thereby allowing people, who may have never been able to put a name to “that feeling”, to see key terms that validate their own experiences. By simply taking a minute to read these fact sheets and share them with your friends and family, you too can make a difference by getting the word out there!
Here are some helpful resources from the official MHA “Back to Basics” Mental Health Month 2022 Toolkit:
- Starting To Think About Mental Health
- What Plays A Role In Developing Mental Health Conditions?
- Maintaining Good Mental Health
- Recognizing When You Need Help With Your Mental Health
- What To Do When You Need Help
- Where To Go
- Terms To Know
Check up on your own mental health at the following link or share it with your community: Take A Mental Health Test
What is EDRS doing for Mental Health Month?
In accordance with MHA’s theme for Mental Health Month 2022: “Back to Basics,” we wanted to take it back to our own “basics” and reintroduce some of our resources. In doing so, EDRS hopes to create an open and healthy dialogue surrounding eating disorders and the recovery process–with the reminder that we are always here to help.
Here are some of our own educational resources that provide key terms, and information on starting your own recovery journey, or for maintaining your own well-being:
- Eating Disorder Warning Signs
- Anorexia, Bulimia, and Binge Eating Disorder
- How to Get Started
- The Power of Intention In Recovery
- Mindfulness Techniques in Eating Disorder Recovery
We invite any and all members of our community to engage with our resources and begin the process of learning why prioritizing one’s mental health this month (and every month for that matter) is so necessary. Access to care is essential to our mission, and we proudly work with various insurance agencies to make sure our services are available to as many people as possible. Mental health is health!
