As the calendar flips to May, it brings us to this year’s Mental Health Awareness Month. Mental Health America’s 2024 theme is “Where to Start - Mental Health in a Changing World.” Even though society is becoming more comfortable discussing mental health, it can still be difficult to know “Where to Start.”

This year’s focus is on helping us all LEARN more about how modern life and pressures of relationships, work, and school impact our mental health — finding ways we can empower ourselves and ACT to build our coping skills to manage stress, difficult emotions, etc. Additionally, we can ADVOCATE to improve mental health for ourselves, our loved ones, and our community.

The Mental Health of America website and their MHA 2024 Toolkit are great places to start. The toolkit contains outreach ideas, fact sheets, coping tool worksheets, etc. I am especially excited to practice the daily activities from the MHA Where to Start ACTivity May Calendar to keep me focused on prioritizing my mental health this month. I think Saturday, May 11, will be my most favorite activity, “Human-animal interaction has benefits for stress, depression, post-traumatic stress, and managing mental health in general. Spend some time with a furry friend.” I think my dogs will love it, too!

Take a moment this month (or several moments) to prioritize your mental and emotional health. And if you don’t know where to start, I hope this helps.

Just a reminder about mental and behavioral health services at Ohio State:

• The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Mental and Behavioral Health offers robust mental and behavioral health wellness services.
• The Ohio State University’s Counseling and Consultation Service provides mental health services for students.
• The Ohio State University Employee Assistance Program provides five complimentary counseling sessions; to initiate the process call 800-678-6265 or submit an online request here. Any questions, email us at eap@osumc.edu.

Additionally, if you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available by calling or texting 988. The 988 Lifeline provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones.