Mental Health Awareness Month
It is the month of May, and do you know what that means? It is Mental Health Awareness Month! Each year, according to several studies, 1 in every 4 or 5 Americans has a mental illness, and 1 in every 20 Americans has a serious mental illness or mental health condition. These studies clearly show the importance of addressing mental health.
It is about time that we end the mental health stigma and acknowledge that mental health is extremely important, and just as important as physical health.
The question is: how do we end this unfortunate mental health stigma and continue to reinforce the notion that mental health is equally important as physical health?
The answer is multifold. Perhaps the most important way to answer this question is to raise awareness about mental health. That means to raise awareness about mental health on ALL platforms. Celebrities, who have the biggest platforms, do a tremendous job of raising awareness about mental health. Celebrities in particular who have done an amazing job in raising awareness about mental health on their platforms include: decorated Olympian Michael Phelps, and professional football players, Hayden Hurst and Dak Prescott.
Raising awareness about mental health on platforms includes social media and blog sites as well. I encourage you all to post pictures, stories, or share articles about mental health, mental health awareness, and mental health awareness month on your social media accounts. In addition, what I am currently doing, which is writing blogs about mental health and fitness on my blog site, is also an important way to raise awareness about mental health. Please share my blog posts with friends and family, and subscribe to my website if interested!
Furthermore, volunteering for mental health is another great way to raise awareness about mental health. This month, I encourage you all to try to volunteer at least once for a mental health organization or a mental health nonprofit. I personally recommend that you all try to volunteer for NAMI, which stands for National Alliance on Mental Illness. NAMI is the largest grassroots nonprofit mental health organization in the United States, and has an extremely large network and community. I have been volunteering with NAMI for almost a year now, by giving presentations about my mental health struggles and recovery, and answering questions about mental health.
In short, this is the perfect month to raise awareness as much as possible about mental health in America! But in all honesty, we should be raising awareness about mental health every month of the calendar year, not just in May.
I hope you all enjoyed reading this blog about Mental Health Awareness Month! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me via email at jessepliu@gmail.com
Thank you, and as previously mentioned, please share my blog posts and website with friends and family. Also, definitely subscribe to my blog site if interested!
