May – Mental Health Awareness Month
May is Mental health awareness month and there are many ways one can start to pay attention to their emotional and mental health needs. Here are a couple of strategies to try:
STRATEGY 1: From Sue Varma, MD, a board certified psychiatrist, who writes about developing “practical optimism” a term she uses to describe a set of skills one can learn that may lead to increased feelings of hope:
- Name it: Identify what situation triggered you to feel your emotion.
- Claim it: Where do you feel this emotion in your body? We experience emotions as physical sensations—tension in the shoulders, a knot in the stomach, a tightening in the chest.
- Tame it: Instead of repeating the cycle of emotion, break ruminative loops with self-soothing activities. A five-minute walk, a brief meditation, or calling a supportive friend can help.
- Reframe it: Look at the situation from a different perspective if you can. This isn’t about finding a silver lining for every tragedy, but asking: “Is there another way I could interpret this?” Sometimes rejection is really just redirection.
Manage your emotions before they manage you. — Dr. Sue Varma
STRATEGY 2: From Dr. Becky Kennedy and Dr. Kristin Neff: Practice using compassion/self-compassion for both your own and others’ struggles. In her recent podcast, Good Inside, Dr. Kennedy shared her belief and scientific findings that self-compassion is not an enemy. Taking the time to validate our own and others emotions does not lead to people becoming “soft and unable to handle the world”. She says:
“Interestingly, the way we respond to our kids today has the biggest impact on how they respond to themselves when they are older and the ability to say to yourself, “oh that stinks”, “Oh I didn’t want that to happen”, “Oh that makes sense this is hard” ironically is the step that keeps one from spiralling”.
She goes on to say that “when first beginning to practice compassion, it may feel uncomfortable” as it is with any new habit, change or behavior. Furthermore she goes on to reference the work of Dr. Kristin Neff.” Dr. Kristen Neff has research documenting self compassion increases motivation and does not increase complacency. Practicing self-compassion helps people take responsibility for mistakes without spiraling into shame. Self-compassion correlates with lower levels of stress, anxiety and depression.”
Find a way to practice self-compassion by thinking of a phrase and/or encouraging words you might say to yourself or a friend:
Some examples: I’ve got this!
This is hard and I can do hard things!
I’m here for support if needed!
Practice saying this to yourself or others when you are not feeling difficulties such that it can become habitual when you are facing a challenge or struggle
STRATEGY 3: Explore Mindfulness: Mindfulness is the practice or intention of paying attention to the present moment without judgment. Here are a few strategies you can use with children to practice mindfulness:
- Blowing bubbles. Have your kids focus on taking in a deep, slow breath, and exhaling steadily to fill the bubble. Encourage them to pay close attention to the bubbles as they form, detach, and pop or float away.
- Pinwheels. Use the same tactics from blowing bubbles to encourage mindful attention on the pinwheels.
- Playing with balloons. Tell your kids that the aim of this game is to keep the balloon off the ground, but have them move slowly and gently. You can tell them to pretend the balloon is very fragile if that helps.
For Mental Health Crisis Support: https://988lifeline.org/
Happy Mother’s Day to all moms everywhere!
Check out these resources from CALM (“Calm is a mental health app designed to help you manage stress, sleep better, and live a happier, healthier life. Their research-based tools help you build life-changing habits to support your mental health”). There is both free and paid content. https://www.calm.com/blog/not-calm-moms?utm_medium=email&utm_source=lifecycle&utm_campaign=notcalm2025&utm_content=announcment#signup