Your Proactive Caregiver Advocate- Dr.Cynthia Speaks!
Topic: Mental Health Awareness and YOU
May has been coined mental health awareness month. Did you know that mental health is more than the presence or absence of mental conditions? Did you know that mental health is a central part of health and wellness in any professional or personal sphere? Humanity indeed, should always focus on knowing when one’s mental health is under attack. I share often the importance of being proactive. Proactiveness is not just aligned with the caregiving space. Preparedness and planning in any situation or circumstance are necessary to tune into your mental health self. In life, many occurrences can challenge our mental health and alter our outlook on mental health care.
We know many factors can reveal or create our mental health antenna to raise. The scope encompasses genetics, biological, environmental, and socioeconomic well-being. Any activation or disruption of the aforementioned subjects, changes in person, place, or things can create a reason for high attention evaluation of one’s mental stability. The stigma of mental health is nothing new. Once you have identified the need for a mental health check-up, there is support and help available. Suffering in silence does not have to occur. Cost-effective strategies and interventions are available to restore and maintain mental health.
Be Proactive with Your Mental Health
There are an array of services that are designed to address mental health. Having a crisis is not the only reason to seek care. Sometimes it can be as simple as talking out loud to share your feelings with a trusted friend or colleague. Sharing can sometimes be the best medicine to unwind or exhale our innermost thoughts. It can just make one feel better. This is not the option for crisis and exacerbation of mental health conditions. Medical care must always be considered if safety or self-harm is recognized.
As Your Proactive Caregiver Advocate, let me remind you that we all have moments in time when our mental health requires us to cope in different ways. The National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Division of Population Health is a great resource as well as The National Alliance of Mental Health(NAMI). The website:
Be safe! Be well!
Dr. Cynthia J. Hickman is a retired registered nurse and case manager; CEO of Your Proactive Caregiver Advocate and author of From the Lens of Daughter, Nurse, and Caregiver: A Journey of Duty and Honor, and The Black Book of Important Information for Caregivers.
Website: www.cynthiajhickman.com
