May has arrived and it is amazing how quickly this year seems to be flying by. It seems like it was just January but yet here it is May already. I guess that is a sign that I am indeed getting older. Sad but true fact. Especially with the recent birthday in my rear view mirror I am realizing that time really is flying by.
April found me musing about the same passage of time so I guess I am getting repetitive in my old age. During the past month my readers were wonderful, once again, and commented frequently to help raise a little donation for Reece’s Rainbow – – the April Comments for a Cause recipient. You can read more about that by clicking here.
Thanks to your comments and willingness to support my little blog Chris and I will be making a donation of $105 to Reece’s Rainbow this month. Thank you to each one of you for taking the time to stop by and leave a comment.
So what will be our charity for May? May is Mental Health Month and it seems like that is one of the best areas to be supporting right now. Mental health is such an important area and I actually did my field experience for social work in a mental health clinic eons ago. It has always had a special place in my life and helping in any way to help people get help when they need it is vital to me.
Mental Health Month was established in 1949 to increase awareness of the importance of mental health and wellness in Americans’ lives, and to celebrate recovery from mental illness. Mental health is essential for a person’s overall health.
During May I have decided that our Comments for a Cause recipient will be American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. It is time for all of us to have some honest conversations about what we can each do to help with this growing area of concern. This past year in our local school system we have had numerous deaths due to suicide as well as failed suicides. It is heart breaking.
This organization is one that is rated fairly highly by Charity Navigator and has a really great mission:
Established in 1987, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) is a voluntary health organization that gives those affected by suicide a nationwide community empowered by research, education and advocacy to take action against this leading cause of death.
AFSP is dedicated to saving lives and bringing hope to those affected by suicide. AFSP creates a culture that’s smart about mental health by engaging in the following core strategies:
- Funding scientific research
- Educating the public about mental health and suicide prevention
- Advocating for public policies in mental health and suicide prevention
- Supporting survivors of suicide loss and those affected by suicide
I am happy to support this cause and hope that my readers will be able to find some information that will be of interest and hopefully of help to them and to others. The website and social media channels listed at the end of this post are invaluable for the information that is shared and I am thrilled to be able to learn more myself. The following graphics (available through AFSP) are great ways to educate yourself and others and to help be a part of the solution.
Please join me this month in supporting AFSP and make a difference. Thank you so much for supporting this worthy charity.
12 Comments
Leave a commentLots of very good information here. This looks like a great place to donate money for May. Thank you for doing this.
So sad and troubling, thank you for choosing this cause. And I’m glad it’s May- life really does seem merry in May!
Such a sad but timely cause. Conner recently lost a friend to suicide and it’s beyond sad. Too many stories in the news lately as well about young, college kids taking their lives. 😢
What a great cause to support.
Another very worthwhile and timely cause I’m happy to help you support.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you for shining the light on mental health. Every bit of info shared enlightens and helps. 🙂
Thursday a young man, not yet 30, who used to work in my department overdosed on purpose. I don’t know the whole story. He survived and posted about it Friday, looking for people to tell him what kinds of things give them hope, as he sees no hope for the future, his or the world’s. He’s still in the hospital. I asked him to go for walks with me, and he says he will. I hope he does, and that he does a lot of the things people are offering him. Today I took a walk through the woods and thought about him. I am sad, but I feel like if I can get him out into the world he’ll see lots of little bits of hope. Anyway. Thanks for choosing this work to support this month.
Right now, you cannot find a better cause. Help is very much needed and appreciated in the mental health field. There are so many people who need help.
I agree with everyine, this is the perfect cause. My son has lost friends to suicide and it is so sad.
Another great cause ! Good for you !
Meh. MEH. I suppose numbers are taken into consideration–more of the people who talk about suicide are the ones with mood disorders–but in the real world where I’ve lived, people who consider or commit suicide have reasons, which are not addressed by this group’s obsessive focus on marketing medications for their emotional feelings.
It seems to me that the primary use of the whole idea of “mental health” is to avoid addressing real issues. By saying “Naomi Judd died of mental illness” we can keep from having to ask why she had a chronic liver disease (people who’ve never had liver disease have no idea how depressing it is). By saying “A man who used to live next door to Priscilla King, who committed suicide around age 30, must have had a mental illness” we can keep from having to ask why he felt he had to keep doing physical labor while living with increasing pain and disability. That sort of thing.
I studied psychology. I know mental illness is a thing; I know a few people really are so “crazy” that what they may say, if they’re still speaking, is not relevant to what they need help to change in their lives. I also know that when we say someone’s “crazy” that’s pure verbal abuse, and when we say someone “has a mental illness” THAT may be kindly intentioned (and may be the best help medical science has to offer), but (the ghost of) Freud knows it’s still pretty much of a dodge away from a reality problem.
Why even bother posting this comment? Because there’s some remote chance that, if people think and talk about it, the focus of real concern about “mental illness” may shift away from pushing commercial products, toward actually helping people.
Hello Priscilla. Yours is the most useful post I have read in a long time. Yes, we need to focus on the reason for their mental health problems. Mental health is a catch-all phrase that tells us nothing and does nothing to assist those in need.