Lots of hashtags & graphics being posted on #WorldMentalHealthDay. But if there’s one MAIN point to get across on these “holidays,” it’s that “TALK” doesn’t/shouldn’t refer to letting “THOSE ppl” in the “1/5 mentally ill” group, alone, open up.
That philosophy is what has gotten us to where we are today – isolating a group & making them feel like the outcasts who we are “allowing” to talk on days like today.
No, TALK means that we ALL acknowledge we ALL face MH challenges. The only way this stigma that gets talked about incessantly goes away, is when we acknowledge the universal truth that every one of us lives on a MH continuum, extending from – thriving to disorder, that we fluctuate on at different points of our days, weeks, months, years, lives.
This is truly a #5in5 topic. We will know we are successful when we look back & realize we no longer need these holidays bc everyone can openly talk w/o judgement.
Today we felt it was important to be about action to spread the above msg: so we visited w the employees at the Brooklyn Nets & piped in two very impressive student groups to listen along to our #SameHere Sports session: @the.heal.team & @nuyu.team (in HS & mIddle schools).
These days need to be about action…not about platform endorsement deals w app companies. These are real lives at stake & we must work genuinely w each life we touch to make lasting impacts.