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Meaningful Relationships

September is National Suicide Prevention Month. Each week, we will have a new article featured here that talks about various mental health resources. This week’s feature is about meaningful relationships and how they can affect 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.