
Tips for Promoting Mental Health
May is Mental Health Awareness Month! The purpose of this post is to share evidence based information about practices that can promote mental health. It is not my intention to imply that practicing these behaviors can prevent symptoms of mental illness or that not practicing these behaviors can cause mental illness. My previous post talks about stigma. Please do not use this information to stigmatize anyone who is experiencing mental illness. With that being said, here are a

Mental Health Stigma
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) found that up to 40% of individuals with mental illness did not receive the treatment that they needed in 2012. It is possible that mental health stigma may have contributed to these individuals not seeking treatment amongst other factors. Patrick Corrigan, a prominent mental health stigma researcher, defines stigma as is a "complex construct that includes public, self, and structural components." Corrigan

May is Mental Health Awareness Month
In my last post, I declared my new commitment to being more consistent with blogging and aligned it with Mental Health Awareness Month. I shared Mental Health America's theme and graphic for this year: Risky Business. Since writing that post yesterday, I came across the National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI)'s theme and graphics for this year: I'm into Mental Health. Inspired. Informed. Involved. While Risky Business is an important topic to discuss, NAMI's theme appeals t

I'm Back! Just in Time for Mental Health Awareness Month
I'm back! I am exited to be actively blogging again. I can come up with many excuses including I'm planning a wedding, work is keeping me busy, I did two conference presentations, I'm trying to exercise more. While all of these are valid, the truth is that I need to commit to consistency with my website. I do pretty well with committing to doing a good job in general at work, pursuing my LISW-CP, finishing graduate school and other things. I find it challenging to hold myself