May is Mental Health Month.
 
On July 3, 1949, President Harry Truman established the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). The stated mission of the organization was to transform the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses through basic and clinical research, paving the way for prevention, recovery, and cure. Mental Health Month has been observed in May in the United States since that time. The purpose of Mental Health Month is to raise awareness and educate the public about mental health issues.
 
Statistically, 18.1 percent of Americans suffer from depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. The realities of living with these conditions and strategies for attaining mental health and wellness is key. These days, Mental Health Month also aims to draw attention to suicide, which can be precipitated by some mental illnesses. Another goal strives to reduce the stigma that surrounds mental health issues. 
 
These past 15 months has presented so many different challenges and obstacles that tested our strength and resiliency. The global pandemic has forced us to cope with circumstances we never could have imagined. Many people who had never experienced mental health challenges found themselves struggling for the first time. During this past year, many were forced to address situations over which we they had no control over: loss of jobs, isolation, no contact with family or friends, financial stresses, limited access to health providers, deferral or cancelations of important life events like weddings, retirements, attendance at wakes and funerals and births of children and grandchildren and many other important family events. People cancelled business opportunities, travel plans and other long planned activities. The utter lack of control over what we could do or where we could go heaped frustration on many.
 
During this Mental Health Month, we can pause to determine to identify whether trauma is impacting our mental health, or the mental health of friends and family. It may be a time to challenge negative thinking patterns or to recognize we need to make time to take care of ourselves. It is a time to remember that identifying these issues is the first step. Addressing them and working on them takes time. Changes won’t happen overnight. Instead, by focusing on small changes, we can help ourselves and others move through the stressors of the past 15 months and develop a long-term strategy to support ourselves and others on an ongoing basis.
 
Mental Health America has a number of resources that are available for free online, including information about Mental Health Month, how to spread the good word and resources that can address our mental health during this month celebration. https://www.mhanational.org.
 
Please take a moment during May to celebrate good mental health and pass it on! Someone you know may need this positive boost.

Joseph Monahan is the founding partner of Monahan Law Group, LLC, in Chicago, Illinois.