Tips for building resilience during Mental Health Awareness Month
Author: Jim Kendall, LCSW, CEAP
Good mental health means that we can find joy and positively deal with life's inevitable challenges. It is a time to assess the balance we have in our lives despite today’s dramatic and unexpected stressors. This year has brought so much more than the “normal stresses of life." Paying attention to our positive emotional well-being is more important now than ever.
Building resilience helps us manage these stressors and bounce back when there are life challenges. Here are some tips and resource to elevate your psychological resilience:
- Be effective at work: Working remotely during this time can be especially challenging.
- Adopt a healthy lifestyle: Health Plus supports good nutrition and exercise though the Nutrition Corner and Move in May programs. Nurture your social connections despite physical distancing.
- Recharge: Quiet time is helpful to simply relax. Use mindfulness techniques.
- Get sufficient sleep. “Sleep in the midst of a pandemic” can be difficult yet important.
- Address your stress: Uncertainty can be unsettling. Stephanie Dean, LPC, CEAP, shares some ways to cope in Resilience During COVID-19.
- Accept help: Work/Life Connections-EAP provides counseling, coaching, critical incident stress management debriefings and resilience skill training through our ConnectCARE telehealth.
- Sharpen parenting skills: The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences is offering a parent education group.
- Know your well-being resources: Your Well-being Navigator is a one-stop website that links you with resources for all your well-being needs, especially in this time of COVID-19.
During this month, consider your own mental health. Do one thing each day to support your emotional well-being. It all adds up.