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Mental Health Month
May is Mental Health Month 2016
This year’s theme for Mental Health Month is - Life with a Mental Illness - and will call on individuals to share what life with a mental illness feels like for them in words, pictures and video by tagging their social media posts with #mentalillnessfeelslike (or submitting to MHA anonymously). Posts will be collected and displayed on a special page on MHA’s website.
Posting with the hashtag will allow people to speak up about their own experiences, to share their point of view with individuals who may be struggling to explain what they are going through—and help others figure out if they too are showing signs of a mental illness. Sharing is the key to breaking down the discrimination and stigma surrounding mental illnesses, and to show others that they are not alone in their feelings and their symptoms.
DOWNLOAD THE 2016 MENTAL HEALTH MONTH TOOLKIT
The toolkit includes:
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Media Materials including key messages, drop-in article, sample press release, and MHM Sample Proclamation
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Infographic Fact Sheets that incorporate plain language explanations of diagnostic criteria for mental illnesses, first person accounts about how it feels, a breakdown of common myths and misperceptions, screening data from mhascreening.org and coping skills on the topics of Depression, Anxiety, Bipolar Disorder, Psychosis and Recovery.
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Three worksheets that individuals can use to make a mental health plan to help them work through symptoms and challenge intrusive thoughts
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Goodies for social media including sample posts and images
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Banner images for the web
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31 Mental Health Tips (Also known as the Calendar-Poster)
The primary call to action for the month will be for people to share what life with a mental illness feels like for them using #mentalillnessfeelslike, and the secondary call to action will be for people to take a screen at mhascreening.org if they think they are showing signs/symptoms of a mental illness. B4Stage4 will be a part of the messaging that is included throughout the materials.
Please note: MHA does not provide printed copies of the materials included in the toolkit; however they are all designed to be easily printed on an office printer/copier.
Is there something specific that would help you with your awareness efforts this May? Contact Danielle Fritze
The 2016 May is Mental Health Month Toolkit has been supported with contributions from:
2015 Toolkit
Download the 2015 toolkit here.
2014 Toolkit
Download the entire toolkit in a zipped folder.
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