For more than 70 years, our country has celebrated May as Mental Health Awareness Month to raise awareness about mental health conditions and the importance of mental wellness for all. This year, Mental Health Awareness Month has two goals: Share comprehensive, helpful and informative mental health awareness resources, and reduce stigma around mental health disorders.

Now more than ever, it’s critical to reduce the stigma around mental health struggles because stigma often prevents individuals from seeking help.

We have all been touched by mental health challenges of anxiety, grief, isolation and stress whether by the direct assault of the coronavirus on our personal lives and that of our friends and family, or its impact on our livelihood and day-to-day welfare. That’s what makes this year’s Mental Health Awareness Month so special and so important.

It’s important for everyone to recognize there’s no shame in having a mental health problem. We all struggle with mental or emotional issues at some point during our lives, whether those issues are with self-esteem, stress, sadness, loneliness, anger, anxiety or depression. Some of us experience a combination of all of them.

When you struggle with emotions, it’s always best to talk to someone. We all know that. Talking helps. Getting help for an emotional or mood disorder is no different. It’s advanced talking to someone. It’s talking to someone who’s an expert in helping people with the issue you face. Nothing makes more sense than that.

Getting help for a mental health disorder is also no different than getting help with a physical issue. When something goes wrong, you see a doctor. When you find out exactly what’s wrong, you see a specialist.

That’s exactly how mental health treatment works. First, you get a screening. If your screening indicates an underlying mental health issue, then you receive a referral to a specialist. There’s no reason for shame or embarrassment, and there’s no reason to avoid treatment when it’s recommended.

ILLNESS IS ILLNESS, PERIOD

Briefly, I want to address the stigma around mental health in the United States.

Historically, mental illness has been viewed as negative, something bad, as though the person who has mental illness could have prevented it in some way or chosen a different path. Even today, with all the advancements in every aspect of our culture, when someone discloses they have a mental illness the general public turns the other cheek and typically does not want to interact.

It’s important that public perception about mental health disorders change. If we have a heart condition, cancer, or some other medical condition, we seek help right away. We need to get to a point where we think of getting assistance with mental illness in the same light as a physical illness.

The stigma associated with mental illness often leads people to be too embarrassed to speak to their doctor about it, causing a delay or failure in receiving treatment. My hope is that people gain a deeper understanding of the pervasiveness of mental health issues and have openness to recognizing mental health concerns for yourself or those you love and taking the first step to getting help.

One in 4 American adults live with a diagnosable, treatable mental health condition and the fact is that they can go on to live full and productive lives. Mental illness is more common than cancer, diabetes or heart disease, making it the leading cause of disability in the United States. As Americans, we are so frightened by mental illness, or the stigma associated with it, that we do a fairly good job of ignoring it. It’s easy to talk about mental health, but it’s not always easy to handle psychological and emotional problems when they arise.

988 LIFELINE

Also, during Mental Health Awareness Month, it’s important to remind readers about the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. 988 is available to connect people to the existing National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. People can call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org for themselves or if they are worried about a loved one who may need crisis support.

988 serves as a universal entry point so that no matter where you live in the United States, you can reach a trained crisis counselor who can help.

988 offers 24/7 access to trained crisis counselors who can help people experiencing mental health-related distress. That could be: thoughts of suicide; mental health or substance use crisis; or any other kind of emotional distress.

Too many people are experiencing suicidal crisis or mental health-related distress without the support and care they need, and sadly, the pandemic only made a bad situation worse when it comes to mental health and wellness in America. There are urgent realities driving the need for crisis service transformation across our country. In 2021:

• The U.S. had one death by suicide about every 11 minutes;

• For people aged 10 to 14 and 25 to 34 years, suicide was the second-leading cause of death;

• Suicide rates increased significantly among non-Hispanic Black & American Indian and Alaska Native people;

• Nearly 900,000 youth aged 12 to 17 and 1.7 million adults attempted suicide;

• About 107,000 people died from drug overdoses.

Yet, there is hope. The 988 Lifeline helps thousands of struggling people overcome suicidal crisis or mental-health related distress every day.

DON’T SUFFER IN SILENCE

If you need to seek the help of a specialist, help is available and I encourage people who are pushed to their limit to not suffer in silence. The Dale Association has been providing mental health services since 1974 and has a long history of helping people achieve wellness.

The Dale Association is a unique not for profit organization that has been responding to needs of adults in our Niagara community for over 70 years, and whose mission is to provide comprehensive services and coordinate connections for adults in Niagara and neighboring counties which enhance their health and wellness and empower them to build bridges into their communities. This important mission is the focal point of each program, including our senior services, mental health services, and caregiver support services.

For more information about The Dale Association, please visit www.daleassociation.com. To talk to somebody about setting up an appointment for mental health services, please call 716=693-9961 or 716-433-1937.