Making Assumptions of Mental Illness

Doug and I with our Mental Health First Aid completion certificates

Hey everyone! In this last blog of this series, I want to ask you, “What do you know about mental illness?” May is Mental Health Awareness Month and if you haven’t already, please check out my other blogs that I’ve been sharing this month about creating awareness and eliminating stigma.

So back to my question… What do you know about mental illness? Is it based on facts or assumptions you have made based on movies or stereotypes? Growing up, I thought movies and TV shows were factual and when I had my accident, I was quick to learn the many stereotypes and generalizations that many movies and TV shows have about the physically disabled. I was so upset to see my life being so negatively portrayed. I have seen this also when it comes to mental illness. I’ll never forget when I saw the movie, Me, Myself, and Irene. I was so disgusted at how mental illness was so negatively portrayed… I could barely make it through the movie. If we are going to truly understand mental illness and how to eliminate stigma, we have to know that the movie industry and TV shows are the last place that we should get our information from.

So where should we look to learn about mental illness? Education is the key… Finding reliable sources is easy with the world we live in, having the Internet and so many good sources that have done a lot of work to provide factual information. We need to lean in and understand- educate ourselves instead of ignoring.

To help educate ourselves, I want to share the work that AFSP has been doing this month. They have put together a series of “how-to” video’s from AFSP’s Vice President of Programs Marshall. These videos are filled with easy-to-do and practical information, offering inspiring advice on topics including:

· How to broach the subject and start a conversation with someone

· What to say to a person you think may be struggling

· How you can respond to someone who is having suicidal thoughts

· Language you can use to let friends know you’re struggling

· And much more!

Please check the link out below to access these videos to educate yourself and learn more about mental health and mental illness. I also recommend getting trained in Mental Health First Aid (I will include that link below.) The best part about this training was the manual that we were given, a book of many resources and reminders of the training we received… A very valuable resource! I greatly encourage everyone to get this training!

Thank you so much for joining me today! As we educate ourselves and others, we will help lessen stigma and make our world a better place. Please subscribe to my blog and comment on this below! Be sure to also follow me on Instagram and Facebook and subscribe to my YouTube channel 😊

Link to AFSP videos: https://afsp.org/how-to-start-and-continue-a-conversation-about-mental-health-a-realconvo-guide-from-afsp/

Link for training in Mental Health First Aid: https://www.mentalhealthfirstaid.org/take-a-course/