It’s Mental Health Awareness Month—Have You Done Your Mental Health Check-up Yet? By: Jessica Taylor, LPC What Is Mental Health Awareness Month?   The month of May is when we try to put even more time and resources into both increasing public awareness around mental health issues, and decreasing the stigma that remains regarding asking for help and seeking treatment for mental illness.  According to the National Institute for Mental Health, approximately one in five adults in the US struggle with a mental illness.  Participating in Mental Health Awareness Month can mean being more mindful about attending to your own mental health, or it can mean reaching out to others in need.   How to Do a Mental Health Check-Up Maintaining a healthy baseline mood is not a “one and done,” but rather an ongoing lifelong process for all of us.  Even if you are do not have mental illness in your family history, life is complex and complicated.  Situational events such as the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, or a cancer diagnosis can result in symptoms of mental illness.  If you are wondering where to start when assessing the status of your own mental health, here are some ideas.  General Mental Health Self-Assessment  Ask yourself these quick questions in order to get a general sense of whether you might be experiencing some symptoms of mental illness such as depression or anxiety.   Have I recently started eating less or more than usual?   How much am I moving my body each day?   Am I using alcohol or any other substances to cope with stress, sadness, etc.?   Am I getting enough sleep? How is the quality of my sleep?   Do I feel excessively tired or fatigued throughout the day, despite getting enough sleep?  Do I feel at ease (not anxious or stressed) when at home and/or in public?   Have I been isolating myself from friends and family?  Am I still engaging in activities that I find to be enjoyable?   Am I able to concentrate when necessary?   Have I been experiencing extreme shifts in my mood?  Am I more angry or irritable lately?   Have I been tearful or crying more than usual?   Have I been having any thoughts of suicide?   Journal About Your Mood Each Day Try taking five minutes at the end of each day to write about what your mood and functioning was like that day.  This way, you can begin to notice any patterns that come up (i.e., “I feel more stressed out on the days that I don’t take my morning walk.”)  You can structure this in whatever way is helpful to you, but here are some ideas:  Where is my mood on a scale from 1-10 today?   How did I feel for most of the day (i.e., calm, sad, angry, stressed, etc.)?   Did anything significant happen today that might have impacted my mood and functioning?   How much water did I drink?  What were my meals like?   Did I move my body today?   How much sleep did I get last night?     How to Reduce the Stigma Around Mental Health and Help Others Share your experience. One of the ways that symptoms of mental illness ‘trick’ us is making us feel alone in our experience.  For example, someone who is experiencing symptoms of depression might think something like: “I can’t tell my friends and family about what I’m going through because they won’t understand and will probably see me as weak.”  If you feel comfortable sharing your experience of mental illness and the steps you are taking to live a happier, more fulfilling life, that might be exactly what someone else needs to hear right now.  The more often people speak about their experiences with mental illness, the less stigma there will be around this issue.   Check-in with loved ones. By now we know that someone can look happy on the ‘outside,’ while experiencing immense suffering internally.  Check-in with friends and family members that you haven’t spoken to in a while by giving them a call or even sending a quick “How are you doing?” text.    

How to Set Goals –And Stick to Them! By: Jessica Taylor, LPC Are there goals that you have been wanting to tackle, but find yourself continually putting them off?  Maybe this is because you fear setting a goal and then failing.  Or sometimes it can be difficult to even know where to begin.  If this is the case for you, here are step-by-step instructions that you can follow to set your goals and stick to them.   Narrow it Down to One Current Desired Outcome First, grab a pen and paper.  Writing things down is the way to start off on the right foot.  Ask yourself: What area of my life am I currently wanting to improve?  Are you wanting to prioritize enhancing your social life?  Or maybe you feel as though you need to get back on track with your physical health and well-being.  Sure, there might be multiple areas in which you want to better yourself, but just pick the most important one first.  Once you start making progress and maintaining good habits there, you can use that momentum to drive you to start accomplishing goals in the next domain of your life.  A sure way to not make progress on your goals is to overwhelm yourself.   Use the SMART Acronym Make sure that your goals are smart!  Use this acronym to make sure that your goals are checking all the boxes that will aid in you finding success in accomplishing them.   Specific. Broad goals contribute to feeling overwhelmed.  Break down a large goal into multiple smaller action steps.  For example, having the goal of traveling more in the year 2022 would require short and medium-term goals for saving money, planning where to go, etc.   Measurable.  This means that there will be specific ways for you to know when you have accomplished your goal.  For example: “I will be attending a Pilates class at least three times each week by June of this year.”  Achievable. Your goals must be in your control. Take getting a new job for example.   Getting hired is out of your control but sending out applications and calling potential employers on a daily basis is within your control.   Relevant. Base your goals on your values, not on what you think your values should be.  Do you actually want to get a new job, or have your friends been telling you that you should get a new job?   Time-bound. Determine a timeline for action steps and a date by which you would like to accomplish your goal.   Determine and Plan for Possible Barriers Be sure to plan for possible external variables that might come up and impact your ability to achieve your goals.  Some of these may be out of your control, forcing you to just ride the wave and do your best.  But other barriers you can plan for. For example, if you plan is to get fit, how will you plan to maintain your goals through the holiday season, when structure is hard to come by?   Know Your Currency Rewarding yourself for accomplishing small action steps along the path toward your goals is a great way to stay on track.  But it is important to think about what rewards are motivating for you specifically.  Here is an example: “After every interview that I complete, I will treat myself to a drink from my favorite cafe.”   Have a Support Person Who Can Help Keep You Accountable This can be a friend, family member, or counselor.  Share your goals with someone you trust and either ask them to join you in activities associated to your goals, or even just ask that they check-in with you periodically about your progress.  Knowing that someone is going to ask you how your goals are going can be the motivation you need to keep going when things get tough.   Don’t Beat Yourself Up “Tough love” is really only motivating for a small percentage of people.  Think about it: when you say mean things to yourself, this makes you feel bad about yourself. When you feel bad, do you want to do productive things?  Probably not.  Feeling bad might even be a trigger for engaging in maladaptive behaviors such as using food, drugs, or alcohol to self-medicate.  Or cause you to isolate yourself from the people you care about.  When you are not making the progress toward your goals that you had hoped for, pay attention to the thoughts that your brain is sending you.  If it is saying unhelpful or even harmful things to you, make an effort to remind yourself that buying into those thoughts will not motivate you to make more progress on your goals.  Find thoughts that will help you make progress and buy into those instead.  Here’s an example: “This week was tough, but I am signed up for that hiking group on Monday and am already making steps towards getting back on track.”