May is Mental health awareness month. It was established in 1949 by the National Association of Mental Health. Like most months focusing on a health topic, there is a theme established for each year.
Scary statistics of Mental Health
According to the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, 1 in 5 adults are affected by mental illness each year. Even worse is 1 in 20 have a serious mental illness episode in a year. In 2023 20% of high school students seriously considered suicide
Why should I care about mental health?
When looking at the statistics, it is not a question of will I be affected, but when. When 1 in 5 US adults are affected by mental illness in a given year, there is a pretty high probability that you or someone close to you will have an episode. Life happens fast, and life is not always very fair. There is a very likely probability that depression or anxiety will effect you at some point.
Access to care
In today’s environment access to care is a very big stumbling block. Most health insurance policies have minimal to no coverage for Mental heath care. Often they will claim you have benefits but they truely only cover a few visits with a provider. So in actuality, you just get comfortable with truely opening up and your benefits have been exhausted. For many the only adequate care occurs through medicaid after the world has fallen out on someone. And in today’s world there is a big focus on budget cuts to Medicaid. Let’s be honest here, when it comes to cutting access to an MD versus a mental health professional, who do you think will still have the access.
“Untrained” mental health providers
Typically other Healthcare providers have to be the first level of assistance to mental health. For us therapists we establish an rapport with our residents due to the time spent with them at a vulnerable moment of time for them. We have to be the supportive listener and be the first line of assistance. All too often we have to act as the mental health provider to our residents until the actual professionals step in.
A stressful job
All healthcare providers have a stressful job. We are constantly dealing with fixing problems. Some levels of healthcare, such as hospital based or skilled nursing based, even have to deal with end of life issues also. Our jobs can slowly grind on us and affect our own mental wellbeing. We need to have access to help and need to be willing to accept help. Unfortunately many times we will neglect ourselves to help others. It is part of why we do our jobs in the first place. Also unfortunately as healthcare providers, we typically have less than par insurance coverage which probably involves minimal mental healthcare.
This became very visible during the COVID pandemic. With the constant threat of getting sick while caring for those that were sick, as well as dealing with the levels of death during the beginning. The curtain that hid our vulnerability was not only pulled open, but violently ripped down.
The importance of self care
Through it all we need to be more aware and focused on our own wellbeing. We need to be more aware of our current state of mental health. We also need to be willing to accept help. Along those same lines, our employers need to be focused on giving us the tools to be healthy and successful. If we are not at our best, we cannot help to our best. So please take a moment to look in the mirror and be honest about where you are. Take care of yourself, so you can be the effective helper you strive to be. So be aware all year, not just this month, to your mental health. You are worth it.
