Mental Health Awareness Month

By Maya Moore

May has been recognized as Mental Health Awareness Month since 1949. Over the years, society has done a better job at recognizing the significance of mental health, but the problems of stigma and misconceptions still exist. Mental Health Awareness Month encourages everyone to educate themselves and reduce the stigma surrounding mental health.
Isabelle*, a student who has personally experienced mental health challenges, and has friends and family members diagnosed with mental illnesses, emphasizes the importance of awareness.
“You could be born with it,” Isabelle said. “It could come from grief, trauma, anything in life that happens. So, the biggest thing is being able to talk about it and educate people so we have less ignorance in the world.”
Social/emotional counselor Maria Doyle described the stigma with mental health as opposed to physical health. This stigma contributes to the average delay of 11 years, according to The National Institute of Mental Health (NAMI), to receive treatment.
“I think it’s really hard for people to overcome the stigma that surrounds mental health because if somebody has a broken leg, that’s very obvious,” said Doyle. “We can see that with our eyes and to everybody around us, that, oh, there’s a challenge that that person is facing … But, mental health struggles, a lot of times, are not evident through physical signs.”
According to NAMI, more than 1 in 5 U.S. adults live with a mental illness, which equaled 59.3 million in 2022. 50.6 percent of those people received treatment. Doyle explained how common it is for students to not want to talk about their mental health.
“The No. 1 thing is for students to know that they’re not alone,” Doyle said. “If someone is struggling with mental health a lot of times, they kind of turn inward and can maybe isolate themselves or think there’s something wrong with them.”
Isabelle said it would be helpful if people understood mental illnesses are not the same for everyone.
“You’re not going to have the exact same issues as everyone else does,” Isabelle said. “Your learning style is going to be different. Your way of recovery is going to be different. Your relationship with others is going to be different. You don’t have to be the exact same, but you can still understand each other.”
Isabelle said her recovery was difficult.
“I struggled a lot with anxiety and depression, and I used to have an addiction to self-harm,” Isabelle said. “For a lot of people, you can’t just stop, and it’s not something you’re doing for attention … But it’s hard to recover, and it’s hard to admit to people that you’ve been doing it, because, again, that guilt and just wishing that you never started in the first place.”
The Butterfly Project helped Isabelle stop her self-harm.
“You have a bunch of your loved ones draw a butterfly on your arm,” Isabelle said. “So, by the end of the day, both my forearms were just covered in butterflies. … you don’t want to harm your loved one. Your loved one is represented by that butterfly. I had drawn one on myself so that I was one of those loved ones, and that actually helped a lot. I didn’t think it was going to, because I thought, oh, they’re simple drawings. They’re going to wash off. But, having that representation of people’s love on your body is more impactful than you would think.”
Another student, Christine*, has several friends and relatives with mental health issues.
“First talk to them, and if they say, ‘Oh, I don’t really need anything,’ just still check up on them,” Christine said. “And, if it’s something more serious, and you know that they might hurt themselves or somebody else, talk to a trusted adult that they also trust.”
Doyle explained the importance of simply being there for others.
“I always tell students to never underestimate the power of their own presence,” Doyle said. “All that somebody needs in life is just somebody to walk through life just right alongside you. You don’t have to tell them what to do or have the best advice in the world, but to just comment or ask somebody like, ‘Hey, are you okay?’”
Acknowledging mental health challenges has improved Christine’s relationships with friends, and has encouraged them to be more open with her.
“[Mental health] has brought lots of [us] closer because they know that mental health is something that I’ve experienced with family members,” Christine said. “They know that I will react in a caring way, and that I’m somebody that they can come to and talk about their problems with, and that I’m not going to judge them, and I’m really going to listen to them.”
*name changed for student’s privacy