Life has been difficult, to say the least.
This year, the theme of MHA’s 2022 Mental Health Month Toolkit is “Back to Basics.” After the last two years of pandemic living, many people are realizing that stress, isolation, and uncertainty have taken a toll on their, their family’s and/or their friends’ well-being. Our goal is to provide foundational knowledge about mental health & mental health conditions and information about what people can do if their or a loved one’s mental health is a cause for concern.
From social determinants of health to genetics, many factors are in play when it comes to mental health conditions, but there are protective measures that can prevent mental health conditions from developing or keep symptoms from becoming severe.
Life can be challenging, but every day shouldn’t feel hard or out of your control. If it does, one of the quickest and easiest ways to determine whether you are experiencing symptoms of a mental health condition is to take a mental health screening at mhascreening.org.
So we kept it simple. Our toolkit provides free, practical resources to introduce mental health topics like recognizing warning signs, knowing the factors that can lead to mental health conditions, maintaining mental wellness, and seeking help for mental health.
Back2Basics 2022
We, at Mental Health America of Putnam County (MHAoPC), are proud to share a toolkit that can help with your mental health. This year, we include the following new topics: starting to think about mental health, what plays a role in developing mental health conditions, maintaining good mental health, recognizing when you need help with your mental health, what to do when you need help, where to go, and terms to know – all tools to boost the mental health and general wellness of you and your loved ones. We’re so happy to be able to share these!
Starting to think about mental health
Mental health is our emotional/social well-being and impacts how we think, feel, and behave. Mental health plays a large role in our lives, such as when connecting others, making decisions, handling stress, and many other parts of life. Everyone has mental health – and mental health deserves our attention more than we most likely give it! View more on our Starting to think about mental health fact sheet.
What plays a role in developing mental health conditions?
Most conditions don’t occur because of a single thing – they have many causes, which are called risk factors. The more risk factors a person has, the more likely they are to develop a mental health condition at some point in their lives. Mental health conditions also develop slowly, and they can suddenly show after a stressful event or a big change. View more on our What plays a role in developing mental health conditions? fact sheet.
Maintaining good mental health
Mental health is a big part of your life and well-being – whether you know about it or not. When you are more mentally healthy, you’re able to go out and enjoy life, the people in your life, feel good about how you are doing, maintain relationships, and deal with stress. Mental health can also shift over time – don’t worry, this is normal! Everyone faces difficult situations in life. Creating healthy habits is how one can support their mental health while they are doing well so they have skills when they might not be doing as well. View more on our Maintaining good mental health fact sheet.
Recognizing when you need help with your mental health
There are days when we don’t know we need help with mental health. For example, when we are a bit sore, have a headache, or are extra tired, we are worried about our physical health. This doesn’t mean that we’re sick. However, we can get sick from something suddenly and significantly change for the worse or when something prevents us from functioning properly. Mental health is similar in this aspect – there can be a few bad days, but when things that used to be easy become difficult, something is going on. View more on our Recognizing when you need help with your mental health fact sheet.
What to do when you need help
When facing a mental health condition or concern, it’s common to feel like no one understands what you go through. However, many people do understand this feeling, and they overcome the challenges that they face. You are not alone when facing these difficult challenges – there is help, and therapy also exists for your well-being! View more on our What to do when you need help? fact sheet.
Where to go
When trying to seek help, you may be lost or confused about the resources available. Not knowing where to start can be extremely overwhelming – but it’s okay, we’ve got you covered. View more on our Where to go? fact sheet.
Terms to know
Thinking about addressing your mental health? When trying to find help for yourself, there may be terms that can come across as unfamiliar – or terms that you may have heard of, but just don’t know what they mean. You can view these terms on our Terms to know article here.
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Thank you for taking the time to investigate these amazing tools. We are also a local resource, so if you need help finding other help, check out our local listing here
Other Mental Health Toolkits: MHA National also has made it a point to share amazing work throughout the years. Check out the previous toolkit – #Tools2Thrive2021 – to gain even more knowledge on how to mentally thrive in today’s world.
