OWL Promotes Mental Health Awareness Month

May is Mental Health Awareness Month

As we talk about the health and wellness of our community, it is crucial to recognize the significant impact that experiences and responsibilities have on mental health. The experiences differ between each individual within their different roles and environments. This includes everything from home and family life to work and extraneous out-of-office responsibilities. One commonality, however, is that we all carry the weight of our experiences taxing the mind and body.

The CDC, and mental health professionals who specialize in trauma-related experiences, recommend the following strategies for handling overly stressful, anxiety-inducing, or potentially traumatic events:

Maintain an active awareness

Look for these and other signs of mental burnout and communicate them as needed within a support system, whether that be a family member, friend or colleague. 

• General irritability, defensiveness, proneness to frustration that is out of character
• General indifference/apathy, isolation/disconnection from others, markers of depression
• General exhaustion, changes in sleep, eating, hygiene, etc., habits

Self-care

Keep self-care in mind while in environments that may produce such stressors, anxieties, or be overwhelming.

• Build a foundation; invest in your support system.
  • Connect with those you feel closest to and discuss ways in which you can support one another further.
  • Identify and rely on individual strengths, weaknesses, and motivations.
• Attention to physiological needs is vital. These include adequate food and lots of water, rest as needed, including breaks for decompression, stretching, exercise, getting outside, etc. These needs are the foundation for your health and wellness, but are easy to forget while experiencing burnout. 
• Look out for one another.
  • Keep an eye on those around you in your community for possible signs of decline in mental health, mental burnout, or secondary traumatic responses.
  • Check-in and open a dialogue to create a safe space for collaborative solutions and support.

“Coping Ahead”

• Understand the reality of situations, particularly those you anticipate to be the most stressful for YOU.
• Identify coping mechanisms for challenging periods that you can rely on to regulate your system as necessary.
  • Examples of this include:
    • Paced breathing and grounding for stability.
    • Challenging negative thoughts and replacing them with personal mantras or even comforting distractions such as music.
• • • Practice what this would legitimately look like in a situation that could cause such a reaction so that your system knows how to help immediately.

Sufferers of anxiety, especially as a product of traumatic events, tend to respond with rational thought and resolve in the middle of a crisis. Still, outside those high-pressure environments, energy is spent by dysregulated systems while waiting for something to go wrong. This sentiment is commonly shared by mental health professionals.

If you are experiencing challenges with your mental health, remember, you are not alone. There are several local, state and national services available to help.

Prince William County provides several resources for those who need support.

Other resources include:

Community Regional Crisis Response for youth and adults in need of mobile crisis service

Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMSA)