Mental Health Awareness: All Up in My Mental, A Series Intro

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Let me stay real. I pride myself in using my (small as it may be) platform to speak up regarding mental health and destigmatizing the conversation that comes along with it. Now that Mental Health Awareness Month is coming to an end, I thought this was the most important time to remind ourselves that the conversation should continue well past May.


Did you know that 1 in 5 adults have a mental health condition? That's over 43.8 million Americans; more than the population of New York and Florida combined! And that's just the rising statistics for adults. These rates continue to increase over time, while 56% of these affected American adults still remain untreated and 50% of youths between ages 8-15 did not receive assistance either. Over 1.7 million youth with major depressive episodes did not receive treatment!

This is not simply just a reflection of the healthcare system and how we need to help bring reform so these individuals can get the help they need. A large part of this is also due to stigma, and this brings me to the core of this series.


I originally sought out to get some feedback from a variety of individuals; anyone who had a perspective on the subject of mental health that they were willing to share with me, really. However, once I began diving deeper into the writing aspect of summarizing these amazing answers and points of view, I realized a summary could not do these stories justice.

Instead, I will be anonymously sharing the feedback I've received verbatim, so that everyone can experience its full raw impact the way I was lucky enough to. And again, I just want to thank all of you who have participated in providing feedback from the bottom of my heart! I know it's not an easy subject for all to share on, and it is most appreciated.


Think of this post as just a small introduction to a much bigger process. I'm not going to put a cap on the number of stories I will be sharing, as I hope to continuously do so and bring you guys some much needed diverse perspective. Most importantly, I hope this helps to stimulate a conversation that we need to be having loudly and constantly. I'd like to leave you guys with some resources to take a look at here.


Stay tuned for the next installment in the series! We'll be diving head on into the first story. And please reach out if you'd like to be a part of this important conversation. I also created a Google form so that it'd be easier to collect answers, which you can find HERE'Til next time... xx
Photos Captured + Edited By: Lucy Helena

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