Mental Health Awareness Month

In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month in May, our Y is encouraging community members to care for themselves and others.

Mental health is how we think, feel and act. At the Y, we recognize that we all have mental health, and mental health is an important part of our overall health and social-emotional well-being, as well as a core component of our identity.

The Y supports the mental health of individuals and communities in all the work we do to help people reach their full potential—whether that’s teaching life skills to youth in our summer camps, supporting our staff, or helping people achieve their best physical health. This type of non-clinical support is called “community care” and includes:

• Understanding mental health as something we all have—it is how we think, feel, and act.
• Applying positive self-care practices routinely.
• Engaging in conversations in a genuine way, with empathy and the intent of building meaningful relationships.
• Modeling emotion regulation, co-regulation, and effective coping skills.
• Recognizing signs that someone may be struggling.

Through this work, we can reduce the risk and impact of mental illness, provide early intervention, and support the process of healing and recovery. We also provide a critical bridge to formal mental health care providers when needed.

Everyone can play a role in mental health community care. This month you’ll see stories from our Y staff about why mental health is important to them how how they practice self-care to better their mental health.

If you have a story about how the Y contributes to your mental health, email Laura.