Our modern society in the U.S. often puts the spotlight on physical health rather than mental health. In recent years, many people have worked to raise mental health awareness, but there is still work to be done in order to help our society see the need for mental health resources.

Raising mental health awareness could lead to better access to mental health resources (therapy, mental health days, hotlines, medication, and more), people being more willing to seek therapy and medication, and helping people speak more freely about the feelings they battle with daily. Below are some reputable ways you can help to raise mental health awareness in your own circle and reduce the stigma. 

Share Reliable Resources And Hotlines

As the internet and more social media platforms take over our lives, there will be a plethora of information to sort through. Sharing mental health statistics and resources that are accurate can be tricky. When you are sharing resources with others, make sure that it emphasizes that mental health is a spectrum. Not all mental illnesses are the same and not all people experience the same symptoms. 

Reliable resources should be nationally recognized institutions or those with neurological or psychological degrees. Some resources that are factual and prevalent include:

• The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline
• Veterans Crisis Line
• The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
• National Alliance on Mental Health
• Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance
• Anxiety and Depression Association of America

Resources in Utah and around Ogden include:

• Hope4Utah
• Office of Substance Use and Mental Health (SUMH)
• Mobile Crisis Outreach Team (MCOT)
• SafeUT Crisis Chat (app available for download)
• Live On– Utah’s statewide suicide prevention and awareness campaign 

Partner With Others

There are many established organizations that are working to raise mental health awareness and provide care to different patients. In order to expand your reach, ask if you can partner with organizations to help bring resources to your school or workplace. 

Many of these organizations host community events as well. Attending these events can help raise money for more resources, bring awareness to the event so more people can attend in the future, or give you resources to help improve your own mental health. 

If you want to do your own work to spread mental health awareness, try hosting a 5k walk/run, fundraisers, or a yoga/mindfulness meditation group. During these events, you can raise funds and tell people about mental health coping mechanisms. 

Use Social Media And Graphics To Attract Interest

Social media is all about visually appealing content and mentally engaging the audience. Infographics are a good way to share numbers and facts while still keeping your social media looking aesthetically pleasing. 

Many social media accounts share graphics and text posts that are easy to share with your profile or story. These can help raise mental health awareness because those who struggle will feel less alone. Sharing facts can help your friends and family learn more about mental illness from the comfort of their homes. Sharing posts may help spark an interest in people doing their own in-depth research as well. 

Plant Seeds For The Future

In order to help mental health awareness efforts continue into the future, it is important to teach the younger generation about their own mental health. Implementing school programs about mental health and boundaries can help foster more healthy relationships in their adult years. 

Providing after-school support groups or recommending age-appropriate therapy are other ways you can help foster the mental well-being of younger peers. Teaching at an early age will help create lasting change.

Share Stories Of Success

There are many people who seek different treatments for their mental health and have found healing. Sharing success stories of different therapy methods or changing diet and behaviors could help those who are struggling mentally. 

Some ideas you could share include:

• Your personal experience with therapy
• Stories of those who feel medication helped them
• Organizations that have made contributions to raise mental health awareness
• Stories of how the change to the suicide and crisis line has helped 
• Highlight different prominent people who have coped with their mental health
• Show what you do to take care of your mental health
• Read and review books about mental health

Take Proactive Steps To Improve Your Own Mental Health

While healing is not linear, taking the steps to improve your mental health can help others feel inspired to seek help. This doesn’t mean you always have to pretend to be mentally well, but you can share tips and struggles from your own life and how you have overcome them. 

If you are in therapy, ask your therapist about ways you can raise mental health awareness without sacrificing your mental health. They may be able to even share some well-researched tips to share on your social media or with friends. 

Our therapists and counselors at Ogden Psychological Services are ready to help you no matter where you are on your mental health journey. We provide individual counseling, couples counseling, neurofeedback therapy, and more. Each patient gets unique treatment from our team to help them achieve their goals.

College students can experience lots of stressors and have physically demanding schedules. As summer wraps up, it is time to start thinking and prepping for back-to-school with supplies, schedules, and mental health regimens.

It is common for college students to experience anxiety, depression, insomnia, and other mental health issues while moving away or living at school. Participating in college can be stressful even without mental illness, so taking care of your mental health can help you be successful in your classes. Here are some tips for college students to ensure they stay mentally and physically healthy.

1- Check Out Your Universities Mental Health Resources

Almost all universities have small healthcare and mental health centers that are either free or cheaper for students. These resources can include relaxation rooms, licensed counselors, references to outside therapy, meditation groups, and accommodations for students in classes. Your university can help you navigate college-specific issues and help you choose the right class load to keep yourself healthy. 

2- Get Enough Quality Sleep

One major problem that college students find when balancing school, work, and social life is getting enough sleep. Getting to meet new people and experience new things is a healthy part of college life, but sleep is important for you to function as a human. 

Sleep promotes memory retention and mental clarity which can help you feel better and do better in school. Quality sleep and a nighttime routine can help you feel more controlled and help you improve your productivity. 

3- Enroll In Hybrid Classes

If you are someone who struggles with mental illness or struggles to get to bed on time, hybrid classes are going to be your best friend. Hybrid courses often have a day in the classroom while the rest of the week is online or over a video call. 

Hybrid classes are a good option for people who need to work or who may not be able to make it to a physical class two to three times a week. You can be more successful in these classes because there is less pressure to be present and it helps you to avoid burnout. 

4- Create A Routine

Feeling overwhelmed is common among college students. Moving to school and living with new people can disrupt your routine. Establishing a new routine that you stick to will help your mental health. Routine can help you from getting stuck in unhealthy habits or spiraling. Unhealthy habits can lead to higher levels of anxiety and depression. 

Routines also help you avoid surprises and unexpected events. This will limit stress in your life and help you prioritize what is important to you. Setting a routine will also help you schedule time for journaling, relaxation, homework, and other adult tasks that will need to be done. 

5- Avoid Isolating Yourself

When you are struggling, it can be tempting to isolate yourself or only focus on your schoolwork. While participating in college and putting your education first is important, being social and taking a break from homework are also important. 

Knowing when to ask for professional health is also important. While taking a nap or a break can be helpful, when your mental health is debilitating you need to seek help from a therapist or doctor.  

6- Don’t Neglect Your Physical Health

Exercise, good diet, sleep, and drinking enough water have physical health benefits and mental health benefits. Exercise can increase hormone production in the brain, eating healthy can give you more energy, and drinking water helps fuel your body and feel better. When you feel better physically, you can better handle stress. 

Adults are recommended to exercise at least 20 minutes a day. Fitting a workout into your busy schedule doesn’t have to be hard college students can benefit from walking to class instead of driving, going on a run with friends, taking a hike with roommates, or taking a yoga or workout class through the university. 

7- Try New Things

Finding a new hobby or trying new things can help you check off multiple of these tips at once, and help improve your mental state. If you have been wanting to try Pilates, you can learn something new while meeting new people and getting physical exercise. 

College is a great place to explore all kinds of avenues. Take a class about something you are interested in, but that isn’t part of your degree. This can be a nice break from stressful work and give you the knowledge you may otherwise never have gained. 

It is easy to withdraw when you are stressed, but pushing yourself out of your comfort zone can help increase dopamine in the brain and help you build a strong support system.

Mental Health Help From Ogden Psychological Services

College students or adults around college age can experience a lot of stressors. Navigating the world is stressful for many people, especially those who struggle with a mental illness. Ogden Psychological Services offers individual counseling, couples therapy, and family therapy, so you can work on many different challenges. If you are interested in what our team offers or how to get started, fill out our contact form or call our office!

Journaling is a common homework assignment that comes with therapy. Utilizing journal prompts can help you process your emotions in a healthy way and provide an excuse to think back on happy moments. Journal prompts for depression can help you recognize when you feel the most depressed, and help you cope on a daily basis. Below are some journal prompts to add to your list and use when your depression is at a high.

1- Make A List Of Things That Make You Happy

When you are struggling, making a list of things around you or people in your life that make you happy can elevate your mood. Make a list of things that make you happy, and if you are feeling up to it, list why they make you happy in your journal prompts.

2- Think About The Last Time You Got Really Down, How Long Did It Take To Feel Better?

Coping with your mental illness can be challenging, especially when you are in the thick of it. This journaling prompt can help you reflect on a previous depressive episode and what you learned from it. Depression can occur in patterns, but not always. Writing down your feelings and how you worked to feel better may help you improve your coping next time. 

3- What Is One Thing You Are Looking Forward To?

Looking forward to something can help give you hope during a dark time. This journal prompt could help to elicit more happy thoughts or multiple things that you can look forward to while struggling with depression. Whether it be a birthday, a weekend trip, reading a new book, your therapy appointment, or seeing an old friend, writing it down will make it feel more tangible. 

4- What Would You Do If You Knew You Could Not Fail

Mental illness can make us overthink situations and put off doing things we really love because we fear failure. A good way to take a step back is to journal about something that you have dreamed of doing, but have been held back by fear. 

Fear should not be the thing that keeps you from pursuing a dream or traveling to a new place. Life can be scary and the fear of making a mistake is something that many people struggle with. 

5- What Times Of The Day Tend To Make You Feel More Depressed Than Others?

Journaling can help you remember things that you would not remember otherwise, including patterns in your depression. Journal prompts can help you recall what times of the day, what seasons, foods, or situations make you feel more depressed than others. 

Jotting down times of day when you feel more depressed, could help you prepare and do some self-care in order to curb your depression. This may also help you know when to take your meds or schedule therapy. 

6- Describe What You Are Feeling Right Now

All of your feelings are valid, so allowing yourself to sit with them, process them, and write about them will help you to keep moving forward. Feeling angry, depressed, disappointed, left out, sad, and other emotions should be felt, but you should not live with those emotions all the time. Journaling can help you process them in a healthy way and move into a more calm mental state.

7- Give Some Specific Examples Of When You Showed Resilience

Those who struggle with a mental illness may think that they are weak, but in reality, they show a lot of resilience. Getting up every day and going to school or work while depressed shows strength. Journal prompts that help you recognize instances of strength, stability, and learning will help you see just how far you have come. 

8- What Is One Thing You Have Wanted To Try But Haven’t Gotten Around To Yet?

When you are focused on taking care of your mental health other goals can get shoved to the back burner. Journaling about them could give you a clearer vision for the future and give you a little extra motivation to try these hobbies or bucket list items. 

You can take this journal prompt as deeply as you feel comfortable doing. You could list some hobbies or restaurants you have wanted to try or you can talk about a dream job, travel destinations, or something you have never told anyone. 

9- My Inner Critic Is Wrong About ________ Because _______

Our inner voices can convince us that something is true when it is not. Especially when you struggle with mental illness, you may believe that you are less than others. This prompt can be done once or multiple times. It forces you to recognize what is true and what is untrue and work through these statements in future therapy sessions. 

You can also look back on these statements when you are feeling down and remind yourself how important it is to see yourself in a positive light. 

10- What Is Your Most Common Felt Emotion?

As previously mentioned, journaling is a great exercise for navigating emotions. It can also be helpful to notice patterns and other emotions you feel while you are depressed. Write down the emotions you feel the most and why you think that is can help you avoid triggers in the future. 

How Journaling Can Help Depression

Journaling brings thoughts and emotions to the surface and many patients are surprised by what they feel comfortable writing or what comes out. Journaling in combination with therapy can help you become more aware, process emotions, and help you feel more in control of your life. 
If you are going to see the benefits of journaling, you will need to stay consistent and don’t hold back. Your journal or notebook is a free space where you can avoid judgment so holding back will not provide any benefits. Journaling every day for 20 minutes can also help yield ideal results. If you can’t keep to an everyday schedule, try 3 times a week.