EACH MIND MATTERS... our society has hospitals and treatment centers for physical health-based conditions BUT not enough resources for mental health-based ones. What's up with that? STIGMA! SILENCE! INSTITUTIONAL DENIAL!

EACH MIND MATTERS... 

WHAT IF... two out of three or most people in our society had a mental illness?  What if two out of three people people in our nation are obese?  Would we call either a CRISIS? Would we treat either or each, as NORMAL?

I LIVE WITH MENTAL ILLNESS... on a daily basis, all around me.  I see it on the faces of those: in traffic, at stores, in offices, in law enforcement positions, on the football field, at the highest levels of government; those I call friends, and those I see working as mental health care givers.  We see the results of diagnosed and un-diagnosed mental illness almost on a daily basis.  Often treatment and/or medication is the difference between those functioning well and those who are violent.  It's by now well-established in research that TREATMENT WORKS.  The hardest part, however, is often convincing someone with a compromising or deteriorating mental condition... that they need help.  Since the purpose of the brain, research confirms, is to maintain the status quo, that is to survive... we shouldn't be surprised to hear: " I am not sick, I don't need help."  Yet, that same person wouldn't say that if blood was spewing out of a gut or arm.

I AM ANTI-STIGMA! I therefore support a national conversation about mental health needs, treatment, resources, and awareness.  By acting as if, mental health is as normal as physical, emotional, and spiritual health-care needs, we will begin to end the silence and magical thinking around mental illness.  It's not going away. Mental Illness has long affected our mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, and other relatives. Help is needed to get better facilities and greater resources for what I call - the Silent Mental Health Crisis in America.

May is MENTAL HEALTH MONTH.  Let's do something!  Join a NAMI walk (National Alliance on Mental Illness) or other project in your county or state.  Share your story about mental health experiences. Write legislators. Look people in the eye... when you see them asking for money, laying on a sidewalk, talking to you to themselves, or unseen friends.  You might even be surprised to learn that a lot of the people we see wearing Bluetooth might not be talking to anyone, but themselves.  These days, more and more of us look as if we have Schizophrenia, multiple personalities, depression, or a bipolar disorder that takes us from highs to lows.  Why?  Because between technology and unhealthy diets and lifestyles, our bodies and brains have to wrestle with stress and chemical changes, as well as perceptions and expectations of ourselves and others.  Let's hope the quality of mercy, is not strained.

Join me in the conversation to demonstrate that EACH MIND MATTERS.  The above new KPSA (Public Service Announcement) shows that we are, indeed, the answer and the change.

Let's thank the producers and creators of #IamAntiStigma  #millionslikeme: 

 the Hope&Grace Initiative.

EACH MIND MATTERS...