We’ve been away, but for good reason – we’ve been busy! Empower Mental Health has been all around the state of Minnesota, engaging with providers on how to best address mental health! We have been talking with leaders about what struggles they are seeing and what some of the barriers to addressing them are…and there are a lot of each!
Here are some things we’ve learned. “Mental health” is a buzzterm right now, but a lot of people don’t really know what it means. When we talk about mental health, we’re talking about everything from anxiety, depression, and everyday stress, all the way to more severe things like suicidal ideation and aggressive behaviors that might come from an issue like schizophrenia or a neurocognitive disorder. Anxiety, depression, and stress are by far the most common things that people see around them, and these might be just normal feelings but also might be symptoms of a bigger issue that may require some kind of treatment.
Second, people don’t like to ask about others’ mental health because A) they think it will make the other person (or themselves) uncomfortable, or B) they don’t know what to do next. Okay! That is totally fine. Ask anyway. It absolutely might be uncomfortable to ask someone if there is something bigger going on for them than just an angry outburst or seeming isolated or withdrawn. Ask anyway. I love the “Seize the Awkward” campaign I’ve seen on commercials – it’s geared toward adolescents but does a great job of saying “it’s okay to talk about it, even if it’s awkward.” In fact, it is absolutely better to say something than nothing at all! Saying nothing makes it seem like it’s not okay to be struggling, which keeps stigma high and people quiet. And even if you don’t know what to say next, just the fact that you have asked opens the conversation. You can say “Is there anything I can do to help?” or even “I’m not sure what to say, but I’m glad you told me.” And you can always suggest that they find a professional (a therapist) to talk to – we therapists love to hear that clients come to us because someone who cares about them said they should talk to someone!
Here’s another thing you can do: write to our “Ask a Therapist” page and ask how you can support someone you care about who might be struggling with mental health. We love questions and can give you a few helpful hints about bringing it up or let you know how great a job you did trying it out!
Ask anyway! Breaking down the stigma around mental health helps us all – because we’ll all feel less scared about talking about things, and the struggles we all have will become more manageable.
Ask Anyway.