Mental Health Moment: Mental Health and Mental Illness

Topics:

💚 Mental Health and Mental Illness.

💚 It has been a hard month

💚 You cannot pour from an empty cup.

💚 Take Care of Yourself. /No is a complete sentence.

💚 Build Community / Don't Do this all alone

💚 Drugs and Alcohol - Be Safe / Make sure you know that it is not laced with something else.

TRANSCRIPT

Hello, good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Hi, this is the last live today is Tuesday, May 31, the very last day of Mental Health Awareness Month. And thank you all who have joined me this month. I'm so, so grateful that you have tuned in. Usually these are on Monday, so I was supposed to go live yesterday, but yesterday was a holiday. And yeah, I didn't, because that was a part of myself cares. I didn't go live on Monday. We're gonna go live today on the finale.

Hi, my name is Chante Meadows. I am the owner of Meadows Counseling Group where we provide individual couples and family therapy. We support communities of color, women's issues. We provide services in person and online. And because of telehealth, we're able to provide services in all of Ohio. If you are interested in learning more about the therapists at metals counseling group, please visit our website at www.Meadowsllc.com. That's www.Meadowsllc.com. So the goal is to hopefully get through this entire live session without sneezing. Y'all know, my allergies today got me all messed up. So bear with me, my apologies. I'm not sick promise. But my allergies is totally messing with me. So the goal is to hopefully get through this entire live session without any major allergies happening. So hopefully we can make that happen. And hopefully we get through this live session, also without any technical difficulties. Let's hope.

All right, so for all of May I have come to you with a different moment a different issue a different today is our last one. I hopefully won't be on here long. Just wanted to share some closing thoughts and final thoughts as we're wrapping up this month of May, mental health awareness month. This has been a very, very hard and rough month. Yeah, when I started this, I had no idea that this is the kind of month this was going to be. So the point of this was just to share some information, some insights, to normalize the conversation around mental health to have a start speaking about it more in normalizing it in spaces with family and friends at work. So that if you want to say I'm anxious, you can know the other parts are to be able to if you want to seek a therapist, you know how to navigate insurance and some of the nuances of finding an insurance understanding some of the diagnosing that goes along with mental health.

I think the first thing that I want to start with today, for the final month is mental health. The term mental health is something we all have that is our health. Like we all have physical health, we have heart health, we have health, mental health is how is your mind emotion? How are you feeling? mentally, emotionally? How are you behaving that is mental health, meaning all of us can say I'm having a good day bad day. Like it is a health issue. It is how we're doing now, this time mental illness. And I think this is a great place to start is because mental illness is that word. It's an illness just like if you stub your toe and you can get an ingrown toenail. You haven't helped you have a foot issue. You can break an ankle, you can have rotator cuff issues, you can have stomach issues, you have issues in that part of that body. A mental illness is a mental emotional issue.

Now that is where we get into diagnosing that is mental illness is where we say there's depression, there's anxiety, there's bipolar, there's PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, there's social anxiety. Those terms are more often what we're saying when we're saying mental illness, meaning there's a diagnosis attached to it. More often than not, if you have a diagnosis attached, that means you've seen a mental health professional, and that professional has provided a diagnosis. Where do we come up with them? It's this lovely book called The DSM. DSM five is how we come up with diagnosis. Even in there is drug and alcohol issues are in the mental health round. That is how we diagnose an actual substance issue, abuse and dependency and things like that. That is where we come up with that.

Why I wanted to start with understanding mental illness is mental illness is a spectrum you all so yes, you can have depression, you can have anxiety. Those are more of our general mental illness. Those are things like someone like myself who's in private practice. Those are the things that we see probably pretty normally depression. Shouldn't anxiety, PTSD, different forms of trauma, then you have on that spectrum go all the way down there. You have your severely, severely mentally ill, you're severely mentally ill sometimes you hear of people who maybe hear voices or see things that's not really there. You've heard people have used a term before and the older term, multiple personalities, you've heard of those things, severe mental illness, severe mental illnesses.

Sometimes when you're walking down the street, and you may see someone talking and singing or acting in a way that you're like, oh, wow, what's going on? There's nothing there. Those are no more severely and pervasive mental illness. That is a very serious mental illness. There is a spectrum you all it is not everyone who has mental illness is in that. And I think right now people get a bad rap and think that like the severely mentally ill is where people put some of the energy into things, you are more of the energy is in your depression and anxiety, that is where we treat more often than not in private practice. Well, the reason I wanted to kind of start there is the things that have happened in the month of May, all of the evil and the honestly, I don't even have words, I'm still processing through the things that have happened in the month of May. Mental illness does not have someone necessarily go and buy a gun and shoot. So I don't want us to associate the things that have been happening in the world and normalizing it as if that is mental illness, because that is also going to criminalize those who are mentally ill, that is going to have people thinking that that's what mental illness is. That is not the goal and the purpose of me spreading the word around mental illness.

Now, are there people who have killed someone potentially because of mental illness used usually an auditory hallucination or someone telling them something in that moment, that may make them do it, that is not someone who was going to plan something out and go do it. So I want to be very clear in my messaging of mental health awareness month of understanding mental health and understanding mental illness and mental illness is on a spectrum, more often than not, majority of the population falls into the general depression, anxiety, substance abuse issues, ALD alcohol and other drug issues. That is where a typical population, but yes, we have a subset that is much more severe. That is more often than not Well, we are spreading the word, not saying that, that doesn't need help. But usually those severe mentally ill have gotten treatment over time they're in treatment, sometimes they're not in treatment, that's a part of their illness is not seeking treatment. But because of everything that has happened in this month of May.

And all of these issues, I want it to be clear to understand like, that is not the mental that mental illness is not mental illness, that is what caused these issues. Okay, my goal is to really help you say I want you to, if you want to seek help it because you're feeling overwhelmed, you're feeling stressed out, you're trying to deal with all the trauma that we're seeing on TV, that is the goal and the purpose. Now, obviously, if you hear voices or see things that are not present, I want you to also seek mental health, mental health treatment. If you know someone in your life who is possibly paranoid seek paranoid they're seeing and hearing things that aren't necessarily there, then talking about ways to get them into treatment. But I wanted to just kind of debunk that. I think TV media can really shed a light on things in a way that makes people fearful. I also don't want to criminalize mental illness you all, it's hard sometimes we do if there's a person who is suicidal, and we cannot guarantee that they can keep themselves safe. Sometimes we have to call the police to keep them safe. That is not always a I usually laugh last resort. But it is sometimes the way we have to get help to people to keep them safe, definitely if they are suicidal in that moment.

So I just least wanted to start today with just really distinguishing between mental illness and understanding that it's on a spectrum. And then also just mental health. We are all struggling with mental health. I think if anything we learned in this month of May a few things, hold your loved ones close family and friends. Learn about some forgiveness in life, because no day is guaranteed on this earth. Just because of all the things that have happened that has made us aware of going to school is not always the safest thing and going to a grocery store and going to church. We've seen a lot of devastating acts in this month. And that only tells me that that is why we also we all myself included need to do better at taking care of ourselves in a way that also allows us to build relationships with people, build community with people so that Where you are checking on people.

This is also my moment that I want to all my strong people out there, all my caretakers, whether you're caring for a parent, whether you are caring for your children, whether you are growing a business, all my caretakers, all my boss, lady, all my big ballers, all those people, you all please make sure you are taking care of yourself, please make sure you are filling your cup, it is very hard to pour into everyone else, and not taking any time to pour back into yourself. How are you filling the gas tank up? I know gas prices are high. But what are you doing? If travel is your thing? Can you travel? Right now I think one of my things I miss most is community, I miss people, we were very much socially distant, so much that we isolated. But now I'm ready to kind of I can hold a barbecue outside I can do I'm ready to build community again. But what is it for you that you need to start to fill you up? Do you need a little time to yourself? Do you need a space where you can go to talk to someone just to kind of get it all out. So you're not holding it all in.

So I really really want to encourage each and every person who hopefully will listen to this or shares this to make sure you are taking some time for yourself, make sure you are filling your cup just as much as you are filling everyone else's cup. It is very hard there are so many things happening in this world. And we are giving of ourselves in multiple areas of life that I cannot stress enough. You also have to take care of you. It is not selfish to say I need a moment for myself. It is not selfish to tell someone No, not today. No is a complete sentence. Remember that write it down, put it wherever you need to know is a complete sentence. Boundaries are sometimes saying no. Because for me too. If I do this for you, I'm going to be depleted and I can't deplete myself today. And it's okay to feel that way. If you're overwhelmed, you're stressed out, please find someone now you all if therapy is not always your thing, look into coaching. But what I don't want is everyone to sit around isolated and feeling like there's no one for me to talk to you. If a therapist is your thing, then please, which I hope it is because you know how I feel about it go to therapy. But if it's not if you need a coach, some people need business coaches, because you need to talk through that business plan, that business idea. That's where your anxiety is. That's where you need some help, whatever.

You know, I am a I am a Christian Jesus believer, I tell people all the time prayer works, reading the Bible works. Having prayer were warriors, those are part of my self care, as well. Those are the things that I need to also fill me up having friends is something I need to fill me up so that I'm not by myself all the time having people check on me is helpful to me. And if you're feeling like you know what, I don't have those relationships. Well, you know what that means we have to start to rebuild these things, we have to start building relationships. Again, we have to start building community again. And it can look different, it doesn't have to look the way did you know right now, because of multi multiple forms, whether you want to FaceTime duo, you can zoom someone and do it from your phone just to be like, Hey, I mean, I want to talk to you, but actually wants to see your face when I talk to you. It's okay to want people and want to be around people. And to do it safely in your level, the biggest thing is to really take some time to focus on you and how you need to would you need to feel better.

So I really wanted to kind of talk about mental health, make sure you're filling your cup. And the other part is Be kind, you all there is a lot of hard stuff going on. And always we don't always know what someone's going through. And so sometimes that attitude that you may get from someone may not be about you, it may be something that they're going through, but you have to provide that safe space for people to feel comfortable enough to say something. Which means sometimes we're gonna let that guard down, learning how to be vulnerable one another to let people and to be there for you. There's so much I want to say and could say but I don't actually want to take time. My goal in these moments was really just to help people understand and talk more about mental health and right mental health is all those things. You all every therapist also has their mental health, right because it's our health. We have good days. These days. It is hard you know someone in people who are parents, it's hard right now. It's very hard right now you're in education, K through 12 Very hard right now. I'm going to even say our higher ed people very hard right now.

Everyone is going through a lot so find a way to be kind and sometimes the reason you're struggling to be kind and be nice is because you're burnt out, you're tapped out and that means then you have to take some time to fill that cup again. Refill that gas tank. You all you can't drive around forever, you will run out of gas. And so really take some time to really be thoughtful about what do you need to fill your gas tank and be intentional to fill your gas tank. Always please do not sit in silence. Please do not feel like you have to do this journey alone. It in it may not be at metals counseling where you choose to seek service. But please find people find a community don't suffer in silence. There's a lot of hard stuff and don't hold it all in. Allow yourself time and space, your self care you're filling your gas tank may be simply to go in, talk about yourself for one hour a week in therapy. Meaning allow yourself time to get it all out. Don't hold it all in.

Yeah, being the strong and strong black woman all the time. God is overrated. It is not necessary. We don't have to be doing that any longer. It's time to really start taking care of ourselves letting people in building community being vulnerable letting it out in healthy ways. Side note that was not on this to do but I wanted to very much mentioned and I will come actually gonna make a post about this at some point, y'all. Mental health is real, but so is right now drug and alcohol use. And I will say a lot of people have normalized cannabis, marijuana. That's your thing, if that's your thing. Here's what I want to say. Understand right now you all that people are lacing that stuff with fentanyl and other drugs. Please make sure you know your weed man. That simple. Do not smoke anything, do not drink anything. If you don't know who it came from. If you cannot sit and break bread with somebody, please don't smoke it. There are test strips that you can see what you're smoking. But I just want to put that out there right now. Because in this mental health moment, drugs and alcohol do fall on the mental health because a lot of people use drugs and alcohol to cope with some things they're dealing with.

Be mindful of where you are, where you are, your surrounding and what you're doing. You may think you're doing something harmless but you all people are dying because they thought they were smoking marijuana. And they weren't it was laced. So that moment is a free moment. It wasn't on the necessary to do but I want to make sure I put that out there. You all I hope everyone has gotten something from these something sees me everyone has gotten something from these mental health moments. They may be happening more throughout the year, other than just may. But most importantly, please take some time to take care of yourself. Pay attention to your own mental health. Seek help if you need it. And most of you all that are following me know how to find me so if you need my assistance helping you connect to someone I will do that it does not necessarily have to be at metals counseling, but once again if you are interested in scheduling at metals counseling, that's www.Meadowsllc.com Thank you all for your time and following me for this month of May Mental Health Awareness Month. Take care of yours.