Check Your Mood Day

October 12, 2020 / Steven J. / Comments Off on Check Your Mood Day

On Thursday San Diego County celebrated Check Your Mood 2020.   Lining up with the WHO’s October 10th World Mental Health Day, this is a time to raise awareness of mental health issues, and this year carries extra weight. For months we’ve seen rising rates of depression, substance abuse, anxiety and every other mental health issue. 1 2 3

World Mental Health Day poster

Combating this underlying crisis is done on two fronts; self-care and education.

Self-Care

The flight safety analogy still fits well with self-care. Put your own mask on before helping others. Assess your own wellbeing first. We can’t be at risk of running out of oxygen ourselves when trying to help others. Top self-care tips include;

  1. Connect with loved ones
  2. Exercise
  3. Eat well
  4. Do something you love

For those of you with kids at home, maintain a consistent routine around bedtime, meals, learning and play.

Person being supportive towards another

If you are struggling, the San Diego Access & Crisis Line (ACL) is available 24/7 at 1 (888) 724-7240. Nationwide you can call 1-800-985-5990 or text TalkWithUs to 66746 to connect with a trained crisis counselor. Mental Health America also has a depression screening tool that can help you assess where you are. Reach out if you are in crisis.  

Education

As we take active steps to care for ourselves, we have an opportunity to help those around us. The biggest community hurdles are lack of information and the presence of wrong attitudes surrounding mental health. Education helps remove the stigma. Mental Health America of San Diego County has a free public Mental Health First Aid Training Program that “introduces participants to learn about risk factors and warning signs of mental illnesses.” They boast having the most trained mental health first aid responders in California.

The County also has a wonderful aggregate of resources for support and education. If you have a question about mental health, this is a great place to start your research.

As one day continues to follow another, let’s look after our mental health and our neighbor. #InThisTogetherSD

By Steven J.
Reviewed by: Heather Hemming

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Steven J.