What’s in your mental health toolkit?
With a global pandemic, economic uncertainty and political nastiness affecting us daily, we could all stand to take a look at what we could be doing to take better care of ourselves.
And feel free to try different strategies to see what works for you personally, as “we aren’t all the same person, perfectly wrapped with a perfect bow,” note staff from Southeast Kansas Mental Health.
Here, then, are a few key takeaways from this weekend’s 13 Reasons to Fly, an event focusing on suicide prevention and psychological wellness.
GIVE YOURSELF permission to need help. One mantra of 13 Reasons to Fly creator Isabella Cole is that “it’s OK to not be OK.”
Once you’ve accepted that things in life are in any way out of control, it’s possible to forgive yourself, reach out to others and start developing coping strategies.
“There’s power in vulnerability,” Cole remarked, since it’s the first step in getting help. We often feel ashamed at needing others, but it’s vital to recognize that help exists and has often been there waiting for us all along.
Grab the life preserver. One in five people struggle with mental illness, and “we’re all going to need help at some point.”
Be willing to accompany someone to their visit with a therapist or other support provider. It’s incredible what just “being there” for someone else can accomplish. “Let’s go get help together,” said Cole.
REALIZE that many behaviors are not based on conscious choices, especially when there’s trauma involved.
As Jeanine Long suggested, it’s important to look past the surface and ask what might be triggering someone’s seemingly illogical or self-destructive/addictive behavior.
What happened to someone earlier in life might lead them to be deathly afraid of something or someone in the present. Oftentimes the body-brain does not “know” what day or year it is.
This is why medications are often necessary. Someone may look “crazy” or “down,” when it is simply that their brain is not making enough of a certain chemical.
The recognition that behaviors are often beyond one’s control can also help lead to forgiveness, in particular, when someone has wounded us.
To wit, after someone takes their own life, for example, survivors are left with immense feelings of guilt, which might be lessened somewhat by realizing the situation was beyond any one person’s control.
WRITING can have great therapeutic power, and can take any number of forms. It can also help to imbue otherwise chaotic and meaningless events with purpose.
