Mokita Dialogues: Join a community conversation about mental health

The Jana Marie Foundation will shine light on the importance of mental health during its next Mokita Dialogues at 11 a.m. on April 22.

News coverage of celebrity suicides, opioid overdoses and increasing rates of depression have left the country reeling and asking: What can we do?

May marks Mental Health Awareness Month, providing us all with the opportunity to combat the misconceptions, prejudices and discrimination that often surrounds mental health. It also serves as a reminder that we are all on a continuum for our mental health, with one end being mentally healthy and the other end being a mental health crisis.

Mental health is often considered to be the absence of a mental illness or disorder, yet it isn’t that simple. The World Health Organization defines it is a state of well-being in which the individual realizes their own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to their community.

Being mentally healthy means having realistic, helpful and productive thinking. When we feel mentally well, it’s easier to have more of a growth mindset and we can more easily tap into coping strategies to help us move past hardships and even thrive in the face of adversity.

It’s important to recognize that good mental health doesn’t mean feeling happy all of the time or never having feelings of stress. Nor does it mean that we will never develop a mental health challenge or experience a mental health crisis. However, it does help mitigate some of the risk and may help lessen the impact on our lives.

We can draw a comparison here to our physical health. We engage in daily routines to be proactive in taking care of our bodies. This includes things like getting enough sleep, eating healthy, exercising, maintaining healthy social connections, and so on. Although we make this a priority, we know we can still get sick or injured sometimes. However, these routines help lessen some of the impact and hopefully helps us recover more quickly.

Everyone faces challenges in life that can impact their mental health, making these courageous conversations crucial to have not just during the designated month, but each and every day.

Mental health concerns affect our way of living, laughing, loving and playing. In other words, it impacts all aspects of our lives. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in five people will experience a mental illness in their lifetime, yet less than half will receive help.

Historically, there has been a silence surrounding the topic of mental health, something that Jana Marie Foundation and other organizations work each day to combat. Through education, awareness and communitywide conversations, we can remind people that it is OK to reach out for help and it is OK to reach out to help someone.

The Mokita Dialogues at 11 a.m. on April 22 will provide an opportunity for community members to come together, dispel myths about mental health, and engage in conversations about ways we can continue to shed light on this topic throughout the year. This dialogue is free and open to the community. Join through Zoom by visiting www.tinyurl.com/MokitaDialogues.