May is Mental Health Awareness Month and one of my favorite months as it represents an opportunity to raise awareness about mental health, mental health prevention, resources, tips and tools.
Why raise awareness? Because too many people are impacted by mental health challenges: 1 out of 5 people in the United States have a diagnosable mental health problem but not enough people seek help because of barriers such as: stigma, lack of services, lack of insurance, among other roadblocks.
To elevate the issue and reframe mental health as an essential part of our overall wellbeing, Hope Center for Wellness is hosting and participating in a variety of mental health related events that we would like you and friends to join.
#EveryDayMentalHealth #SaludMentalADiario Social Media Photo Campaign (Throughout May)
We are hosting a bilingual social media photo campaign to highlight strategies we can do on a daily basis to take care of our mental health. We aim to promote “every day” activities that can help us foster positive mental health and emotions as a way to maintain our mental health long term.
Using hashtags: #EveryDayMentalHealth and #SaludMentalADiario, Hope Center will release a picture per day of people doing an activity that promotes wellness. Photos will include fun facts about how the selected activity contributes to our mental health. Photos will be shared on Hope Center’s social media accounts:
Facebook.com/hopecenterforwellness,
Twitter.com/hope_center_ and
Instagram.com/hopecenterforwellness
You are invited to share your own photo of self-care strategies and will be entered on an online raffle to receive self-care kits with wellness products curated by Hope Center. Please repost pictures from the campaign and share your photos, don’t forget to use #EveryDayMentalHealth or #SaludMentalADiario
HUGE THANKS to our volunteer models, and volunteer photographers for your AMAZING contributions to this campaign.
JOIN US STARTING MAY 1ST…..and Retweet, Repost and Like our photos. It starts @ 9:00 am (east) on May 1st.
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#SaludTues Tweetchat 5/1: Racism and its Alarming Impact on Mental Health
To kick off Mental Health Awareness Month, I will join friends at Salud America as a co-host on a TweetChat about the impact of racism on our individual and community mental health. If you are on Twitter, join the conversation on Tuesday, May 1st, at 1:00 pm east using hashtag #SaludTues. For more information visit:https://salud-america.org/saludtues-tweetchat-5-1-racism-and-its-alarming-impact-on-mental-health/
Thanks to Salud America for the invitation to this important chat.
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FREE WEBINAR on 5/18: Self-Care Tips that Work
SAVE THE DATE I am offering a FREE self-care webinar and bringing other wellness experts to provide evidenced based self-care tips and our go-to self-care strategies we share with our clients.The webinar will be on Friday, May 18, from 1:00 to 2:00 pm east. We are thankful to Social Work Helper for being our Tech Sponsor and facilitating our webinar on CrowdCast.Click here to sign up.
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Happy Hour on 5/31 in Support of Hope Center Immigrant Mental Health Fund
And we are closing out the month with a bang!!!! and delicious food from one of our favorite new spots Taqueria Local. We are holding a fundraiser to raise funds for our immigrant mental health fund to support immigrants who are undocumented or have a protection like TPS, DACA or other, and who do not have health insurance or who are not able to afford their sessions co-pay. Hope Center already offers pro bono slots and discounted rates (of up tp 75% of the cost) for immigrants and other community members without health insurance.
This fund will allow us the opportunity to serve more clients via individual sessions or support groups. Last year, as we were starting out (from September to December), we supported long term therapy pro bono for a DREAMer in fear of losing DACA. Our client went from being in constant state of fear that impacted her ability to make important decisions about her life, to feeling empowered, getting a new job and working towards managing her anxiety and shifted her focus to being in the present moment, while still planning for the future. We also provided discounted fees to up to 3 additional community members from the immigrant community.
Join us at Taqueria Local on Thursday, May 31, from 6 to 8:30 pm at 1627 K Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006 (on 16th and K Streets). A $15 suggested donation.
Thanks for supporting any of these activities or others mental health activities in your community.