Suicide Prevention Month
Mental Health Does NOT Discriminate
When you think about who is affected by mental health, is there a specific group of people you think is affected more than others? Do you feel like you hear more about one age group being more affected than another age group? Well, what if I told you that everyone can be affected by mental health, no matter their age. Mental health hardships do not discriminate.
- Help create a safe space for them to talk about what they are going through.
- Help support them as they work to practice good self-care.
- When they are struggling, help guide them to helpful resources, whether that be in person counseling or online sites that provide mental health information and helplines.
This week’s feature is about the 988 Crisis Hotline and how they can help someone experiencing a mental health crisis. Did you know that a person dies by suicide every 11 minutes? Or that nearly 108,000 people died from a drug overdose in 2022? It’s time to take action and reduce the stigma around mental health.
With rising levels of anxiety, depression, emotional distress, and overdose deaths, it is crucial that people have somewhere to turn when they’re in crisis. The 988 Lifeline is a direct connection to immediate, free support and resources for anyone in crisis. This could include mental health distress, substance use crisis or thoughts of suicide.
When a person calls or texts 988 or chats live on 988lifeline.org, they are connected with a crisis counselor who listens, tries to understand how the problem is affecting the person, provides support, and shares resources. 988 Lifeline crisis counselors are trained to help reduce the intensity of a situation for the person seeking help and connect them to additional local resources to support their wellbeing. Anyone, either a person in crisis or someone supporting a person through a crisis, can reach the hotline via landline, cell phone or voice-over internet device.
About 98 percent of people who call, chat, or text the 988 Lifeline get the crisis support they need and do not require additional services in that moment. The 988 Lifeline is a key part of a broader vision for reimagined crisis care in the United States. Through federal, state, local, and community partnerships, SAMHSA is working towards a vision where everyone has: Someone to talk to. Someone to respond. A safe place for help.
These services are free and available 24/7 year-around- including holidays. You are not alone.
For more information visit: https://988lifeline.org/
How Meaningful Relationships
Impact Mental Health
Meaningful relationships are important to how we function as human beings. No matter our age, relationships are a vital part of the human experience, and they impact us in many ways. According to an NIH article titled “Meaningful Relationships in Community and Clinical Samples: Their Importance for Mental Health,” high quality relationships can impact health and well-being in a positive way.
There are relationships that can be encouraging and helpful and those that can be negative and unhelpful. Sometimes negative relationships can be hard to identify due to many different factors, but it is important to understand how to cultivate positive relationships to try to mitigate this process.
Taking care of your mental health is important and who you surround yourself with may impact you in a positive or a negative way. So, how can we surround ourselves with people who can positively impact our mental health and be supporters along the way?
- Be willing to open up to the people you can trust, and you know will share in your vulnerability.
- Be honest about what you need. Be willing to have open and honest conversations, that will strengthen your relationships with others and don’t be afraid to ask for help.
- Be willing to put into practice practical steps to help improve your own mental health.
Whether it is meditating, journaling, or taking some time to relax in other healthy ways, all of it is important. As you work to improve your own mental health, you will also learn who is helping steer you toward a positive outlook or a negative outlook.
If you are struggling and do not currently have a connection to someone you feel can support you and can provide a vulnerable space for you, please visit https://www.samhsa.gov/ for resources and information on the different Helplines they provide.
Sumner County Health Committee's Youth Mental Health Project
The Sumner County Health Committee has strived to improve the health of residents in various ways over the years. Two years ago, we conducted a community health assessment in which we asked the community to rank health concerns in Summer County. One of the major health concerns that was identified was increasing awareness and access to mental health resources.
We formed a Mental Health Sub-Committee to address this concern and our largest project was to provide each classroom in Sumner County with a calming kit. We are proud to announce that as of August 2024, every elementary school classroom in Sumner County has a calming kit!
These kits contain items which students can use to help regulate their emotions without having to leave the classroom. It gives them a safe space and a few moments to themselves to evaluate and acknowledge how they are feeling and how they can begin to feel better.
The overall purpose is to give students a time and place to sooth overwhelming emotions and then return to learning and classroom activities. Over the course of a year, school staff have reported a significant decrease in student outbursts, anxiety, and classroom disruption since implementing the practice.
“Calming kits are an essential resource in the classroom that help students regulate their emotions and develop and practice healthy coping skills. When used with fidelity, calm kits can maximize instructional time for students and staff as well as reduce major behavioral disruptions that are often a result of emotional dysregulation “ states Charlsea Brantley & Emily Anderson, Benny Bills Elementary.
The committee’s focus will now turn toward middle school students. After having access to the kits during elementary school years, we think it is imperative that students have access to something similar when they move to the middle school. We are currently discussing options and ideas with middle school counselors to see what would be most beneficial for students.
If you have any questions about the project or would be interested in joining the committee, please don’t hesitate to contact us!