As I write this post, we are starting the month of May. In the United States, there are months and days for everything it seems, and one of the designations for May is Mental Health Month. This has been happening for many years, and green is the color that has been chosen to go along with it. As you can imagine, May will be a month in which there will be a lot of attention drawn to mental health, and people may see more ad campaigns and commercials on it. Although I willingly signed up for the email lists, my inbox was flooded today from a variety of mental health organizations calling the month to my attention.
Sometimes I wonder why we need to call out issues with a special day or month. After all, shouldn’t we be working on these things every day? But, I understand it. Of course, we are working on issues every day. However, when we think particularly about May being Mental Health Month, it creates an extra layer of attention and effort towards the cause. Simply bringing up the fact that “May is Mental Health Month” could be the beginning of many insightful conversations. Ad campaigns and commercials may just be the inspiration that someone needs to seek help. There are also probably many other ways that a heightened awareness can help people, and that is important.
If you are struggling with depression, maybe hearing about Mental Health Month will give you more hope than you currently have. Maybe it will help you see that people really do care, not just in May, but every day of the year. Were you aware of Mental Health Month before reading this post? Regardless, are you interested in learning more? I hope that the fact that Mental Health Month has become a major part of the calendar gives everyone some comfort that progress is being made.