Mental Health Awareness

 Art 3170 Civic Engagement Action Project 

Welcome to the Art 34170 blog created as part of the civic engagement requirement of this course. In this blog, students will identify a major social issue that affects them and their communities. After conducting brief research on the issue and sharing their personal feelings, students will locate members of their communities who are also affected by the same social issue. Blog #2. 

Wednesday November 9th, 2022

United States & Mental Health Analysis

Mental and physical health are both equally significant components to ones overall health. According to the CDC, the risk of depression increases for many physical health problems, notably long-lasting conditions such as diabetes heart disease, and stroke. Maintaining a positive mental health is crucial for stabilizing constructive behaviors, emotions, and rational intellect. Particularly, individuals who do not maintain a healthy mental health hold a more dangerous infliction to their own mental stability.

The graph above is by the Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE) a representation of the US suicide data and statistics for 2020. Nearly 46 thousand people died due to suicide. 125 Americans die by sucide every day meaning that is 1 death every 11.5 minutes.    

Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE) statistics of the Rate, Number, and Ranking of Suicide for each U.S state in 2020. Wyoming ranking number #1 with 182 deaths at a 31.3 rate. District of Columbia ranking number 51 with 38 deaths at a 5.5 rate. California falls at rank 44 with 4,144 deaths at a 10.5 rate. The rates are per 100,000 population. 

What can be done to help others 

    The implementation of cirruculm programs targeting social emotional learning genuinely provide a kind environment and helps encourage optimal brain development. With the development of emotional intelligence, this allows them to feel empathy easier for other students & communcate effectively. Attending to the emotional needs of students means eliminating serious roadblocks to their own educational engagement. 

1. Social and Emotional Learning Programs

    Certain behaviors and stressful reactions reflect on the upbringing of individuals and students' personal environments. The impact of direct programs targeting to build skillful and mediating behaviors bring a new light to assisting individuals to grow postively despite any adversity in the meantime. The support of social and emotional learning at school provides a strong foundation for academic success as well as optimistic interpersonal and intrapersonal skills for long-term outcomes. In all, this method is to deter any negative future outcomes for individuals. 

2. Integration of SEL (Social & Emotional Learning) School Programs With Parental Involvement 

    It is absolutely necessary to request parental involvement in some programs for their children. This way it'll be easier to strengthen their relationship & focus on their goals for their children. This knowledge can help teachers connect with families on a personal level to grow specific skills and target problem areas for students. The focus on acomplishments can build self-efficacy and assist kids to persist when situations get difficult. 

3.  Seeking Online Counseling

    The impact of counseling provides an open option to better an individuals mental health by establishing a safe unbiased environment to safely express emotional needs. Counseling in schools provide a preventative school-based mental health and behavioral service that is essential to individuals development to avoid negative outcomes in the future. With guidance and counseling in schools instructed by a well-trained and effective school counserlor is a favorable way to help prepare students for academic, career, and social challenges by relating their academic success to their potential succes to come in the future. 

Personally Affected 

    Mental health is something that was and at some points still is taboo when it comes from a Chicano upbringing where there is no such thing as depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts to speak of. From the start, I was raised by my parents to resent those emotions and bury them because it was a form of tough love to show me that the world is cruel and will show no mercy, so I must be prepared for what is to come. Fast forward to my adult years, beginning to experience the highs and lows of working, going to school, and trying to discover who & what I wanted to be in society brought much mental stress and panic attacks which I had never experienced until my college years, and sadly even suicidal thoughts.

    The methods I utilize to cope and support my mental health would be usually sports and music. The happiness of free expression with music helped me output my feelings into words. In sports, basketball among more exercise activities assisted my exertion of stress in a cathartic way. Among all the ways I manage my stress and mental health, talking to my partner overall has been my primary form of companionship and confidant. My girlfriend is my the one who is real with me when I need confidence, or reassureance of who I am or what I can be, as well as my own capabilities. Her reassureance of my own potential is a strong reminder to be positive and that I can do anything if I set my mind to it. 

Community Involvement  

"Mental health is an extremely significant factor to my entire life. Though there is a recognized stigmatizm toward mental health, I feel the central problem to address consolidates around the experience of emotional validation. With that being stress from either school, work, family issues or anything else, above all, taking care of my mental health is my overall priority. I come from a household where validating ones emotions 

Tiffany Le, 24 years old 

What do you think about mental health ? 

Is mental health important within your social circle or family? 

Has mental health affected you in any way? 

If so, what did you do to try to resolve it ? 

Mental health is an extremely significant factor to my entire life. Though there is a recognized stigmatizm toward mental health, I feel the central problem to address consolidates around the experience of emotional validation. That being stress from either school, work, family issues or anything else, above all, taking care of my mental health is my overall priority. 

I come from a household where validating ones emotions is rarely expressed. Usually emotions of any kind were deemed as overreactions and melodramatic behavior then automatically dismissed. So to myself and my personal relationships with close friends & my significant other it is completely important to me to always maintain and improve the mental health of those within my inner circle as well as myself. 

Absolutely. Though the years of misunderstanding myself, and not feeling the ability to completely express myself without feeling shame in my immediate environment, today, I keep my number one priority to focus on my mental health. 

I usually looked for alternative ways to express myself when I was younger, like sports & working out, as well as learning music to occupy my passion. My way of handling my emotions gave me the ability to exert out my own feelings into actions. I had also sought therapy/counseling at one point and I genuinely feel it is an amazing experience eveyone needs to experience at least once, to openly express whatever is buried inside the inner thoughts & need to be told experiences. The safe feeling to confront feelings head on definitely contributed to the strength in my character today to be okay with who I really am and the experiences i've been through.

William Lepe, 21 years old 

What do you think about mental health ? 

Is mental health important within your social circle or family? 

Has mental health affected you in any way? 

If so, what did you do to try to resolve it ? 

    I think mental health is something that shouldn’t be taken lightly as it is important to keep up with one’s own mental health as well as look after others around you. One’s mental health can impact the quality of life for someone good or bad, as to why it’s an important topic.

   I would say mental health is important in my social circles as well as my family, as we are knowledgeable on what it is and how to help each other when one is struggling with mental health. 

    I would say that mental health has affected me a bit as well as it does everyone else, there are days that are much tougher than others and my mental health is not the best, but most days I remember how lucky I am to have my brothers and parents who are super supportive as well as good friends and that help keep me positive.

    What I do to resolve how I feel whenever I struggle with mental health is do things that’s I like to do and bring me joy whether it’s playing video games with my friends or going out and doing stuff with my family or simply just talking to them about anything always makes me feel better. It’s always a good feeling being able to just speak my mind about anything

Resources 

https://www.namiglac.org/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA37KbBhDgARIsAIzce15sxSjAyiCRG-b3iTivlm0jKRxzaIzgFqy2wXo9A-pyIsCUEr51Xe0aAlJ5EALw_wcB 

https://save.org/about-suicide/suicide-statistics/ 

https://afsp.org/suicide-statistics/ 

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsrr/vsrr024.pdf