Story & photos by Romaree Herbert
MAY IS MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS MONTH! But what does this statement really mean to us as individuals?
May is Mental Health Month was established in 1949 and was started by the Mental Health America (MHA) organization (then known as the National Association for Mental Health) to raise awareness of how important mental health and positive well-being are in our daily lives. It encourages us to become more aware of a topic that is not spoken of very much, because it can be difficult for some to speak about it.
It also calls the American people’s attention to an urgent public health issue and provides recommendations on how these topics should be addressed. Mental Health Awareness Month also gives us the opportunity to applaud the tremendous headway this country has made in increasing the public’s awareness that effective services are available.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in four adults is experiencing symptoms of anxiety or depression. Additionally, nearly 60 percent of adults living with anxiety or depression do not receive mental health services. Especially now, during and after the COVID 19 pandemic it is even more essential for children and adults to become aware of and manage their mental health needs.
While the pandemic has wreaked havoc on the mental health of many children, there is guidance and counseling available. The website youth.gov says, “Mental Health Month raises awareness of trauma and the impact it can have on the physical, emotional, and mental well-being of children, families, and communities.” Mental health is necessary for a person’s overall health. Prevention works, treatment is effective, and people can recover from mental disorders and live full and productive lives. In my next column, I will elaborate more on how the pandemic has affected children.
“Recognizing May as Mental Health Awareness Month is important because we want to remind everyone that taking care of our mental well-being is just as important as caring for our physical health. Use this time to start those conversations with your loved ones about mental health. Ask how they are doing, discuss challenging emotions and if needed, reach out to a mental health professional to help you understand what you might be going through,” stated Noreen Jaramillo, Emergence Health Network, Director of Communications.
To create more awareness of mental health, Emergence Health Network has partnered with Franklin Mountain Property Serves to Go Green. Each evening from Monday, May 23 – Friday, May 27, 2022, the Sunflower Bank in downtown El Paso with bit lit up green, which is the symbolic color of Mental Health Awareness. The color green relates to harmony, growth and balance. From a psychological perspective, it is the balance of the heart and the emotions, which creates balance between the head and the heart. As you are driving by, this will be a reminder to check in with yourself, and with your loved ones.
Call the National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI) at 800-950-6264 M-F, 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Eastern Time, or if you find yourself in crisis text “NAMI” to 741741 for 24/7, confidential, free crisis counseling.
For more information, questions, comments about this column, please email me at: romaree27@gmail.com
About the Author/ Columnist:
Romaree Herbert was born and partially raised in El Paso, Texas. After high school, she moved to Los Angeles, attended classes for couple of semesters and realized that there was so much more to learn from the world before entering another four years of structured learning. Romaree was then given an amazing opportunity to move to Europe and travel.
During the next few years, she got a truly enriching, cultural and fulfilling education by traveling through Europe, working as an announcer for the American Forces Network in Frankfurt, Germany, as a lifeguard on the Italian Rivera and eventually going back to college in the U.S. to finish a degree in Communications and Psychology.
After working as a TV reporter in Texas and New Mexico, she moved back out to Los Angeles, CA. to pursue a career in broadcasting, and was lead to another opportunity, changing her career direction and her life.
She was hired to work at a mental health day care rehabilitation center as a Socialization Director for people diagnosed with severe and persistent mental illness. Her role in this position included teaching clients ages 10 through 80 years old, communication and leadership skills, how to build self-esteem and how to lead meaningful and rewarding lives.
Many of her clients had been hospitalized for years and had lost their sense of self-identity. Her job was to come up with ways to help integrate them back into the community in a caring and empowering way. She focused on client’s individual strengths and found there was so much they had to offer the world. The most rewarding part was to see how each person was brought back to life…feeling positive about themselves and reenergized to move forward and continue gaining their lives back.
She began to see such positive changes in people and immediately knew that she wanted to combine working in the field of mental health with her communication/broadcasting experience.
In early 2001, she began writing a column helping to de-stigmatize mental illness called State of Mind. It focused on educating people about mental health issues, decreasing the stigma of people with disabilities, and empowerment and taking back one’s life. After moving back to Texas, she continues to work as a freelance reporter and is bringing the State of Mind Column to El Paso’s City Beat Magazine.