holiday – Taarika Foundation

By Arya Jodh

International Self Care Day, or ISD, occurs every year on July 24th to represent taking care of oneself all the time; 24 hours, 7 days a week. Created by the International Self-Care Foundation in 2011, the day serves as a message that self care should be practiced all the time, as well as an opportunity to promote self care within the media. Countries around the world have dedicated activities and celebrations promoting self care on this day. In 2019 the World Health Organization created Self-Care Month beginning on June 24 and ending on July 24 to coincide with ISD, further promoting both national and regional initiatives.

Self care itself is defined as taking an active role to maintain your well being and happiness, especially important during periods of stress. Self care can take many forms based on individual needs and wants, and it is crucial to a healthy lifestyle to include time to practice self care. There are 6 types – emotional, physical, social, practical, mental and spiritual.

Emotional self care addresses any activity that helps you reflect and process ones’ complete range of emotions. Physical self care entails anything that improves your physical health, from taking care of an injury to sleeping longer. Social self care includes any activities that maintain and improve relationships in an individual’s life. Practical self care can take many forms, but anything that prevents future stress or pressured situations falls into this category. This can be completing assignments ahead of time, or planning a budget, even organizing a workspace. Mental self care is slightly different from emotional self care, as activities that stimulate the mind fall into this category. Finally, we have spiritual self care. Anything that makes one think beyond themselves and their lives is considered spiritual self care, whether the activity is religious or not.

In daily life it can be easy to push personal needs to the backburner, however practicing self care in daily life can improve well being and ensure a balanced lifestyle, whether it’s something small or a major change. The first step is figuring out what you can do to decrease your stress, and how you can implement it in your life.

By: Meghaa

It’s that time of year again – the school year is winding down, a summer breeze is in the air, and everyone is ready for vacation! While May is appropriately popular for its blooming scenery, it also marks the beginning of Mental Health Awareness Month, an annual event which many people can participate in through a variety of ways. So wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, here are some different methods you can practice to raise awareness for mental health!

Mental Health Awareness Month started in the U.S. in 1949 by an organization called Mental Health America (MHA), right after World War II. Since then, MHA has continued the tradition of the month by providing updated online toolkits during March and selecting an annual theme. This year’s “Back to Basics” connects COVID-19 pandemic’s effects on mental health, with MHA recognizing that “stress, isolation, and uncertainty have taken a toll on [our] well-being”.

As with the theme, let’s start by going over some foundational terms associated with mental health care and their significance. According to MHA, mental health refers to our emotional and social well-being, so it impacts our behaviors, thoughts, and relationships with others. As a result, prioritizing mental health is important to make well-informed decisions regarding daily aspects of our lives. A diagnosis is not needed for a person to be dealing with poor mental health, which can stem from a multitude of factors such as trauma, stress, or genetics.

Since mental health is a journey, there will be many highs and lows which each bring their own set of unique circumstances. If you are in a good mental place currently, remember to practice coping mechanisms – skills that help you deal with difficult situations – such as taking up a new hobby or extracurricular interest. This way, your skills will be refined and polished to use when needed. These fluctuations in one’s health also lead to struggles such as not feeling “sick enough” to seek treatment for mild symptoms.

By Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash.com

We’ve seen the background behind mental health, so now how can we make a difference? To begin with, educating ourselves is the most important step in the process of advocacy, so we do not spread misinformation and become well acquainted with taboo topics.

For example, did you know…

50 million or 19% of U.S. adults struggle with mental illness, making it more commonplace than people expect
There are 3 clusters of personality disorders characterized by different symptoms
The Affordable Care Act passed in 2010 not only contends with physical health benefits, but also expands insurance plans to cover mental health treatment

To learn more about similar topics you can do one of these four things suggested or even more!

Local: Talk to your school counselor for information regarding mental health basics
Casual: Check out MHA’s website for quick facts/statistics
Informative: Go to your local library and read books like “This is Depression”
Professional: Take an online, college accredited course such as through Stanford

Online advocacy is another good place to start, especially for those with social anxiety or social media access. Toolkits made by organizations like Mental Health America, National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), New Directions, and more can help assist with curating infographics and videos to post on online platforms. Many are downloadable and accessible for free, providing reliable content. Bulleted below are just a few toolkits found online, but feel free to explore more!

DIY Toolkit – Medium
Spanish & English Resources – Oregon Government
Posters, Articles, & GIFs – New Directions
For Teenagers – UNICEF

Last but not least, in-person advocacy is a more direct action that would take more planning and energy to execute, but would leave a greater impact. This can be done on a variety of levels, but starting small helps when beginning your advocacy journey, and then you can build your way up to a greater platform. Through this, you will have the chance to nurture valuable leadership skills to better tackle mental health awareness in new and creative ways! For now remember to think outside the box for a more personal, unique method to communicate your message.

Person-to-person: Recognize symptoms of illnesses (especially if a friend is not feeling well) and use words of affirmation to help uplift anyone you know that is struggling
- How to Use Words of Affirmation in Your Relationship
Community: Organize a walkout in your school and create posters to raise awareness for mental health. Clearly outline a goal for your protest (Are you asking for more available counselors? Are you protesting a piece of legislation?)
- How To Succeed In Organizing A High School Walkout While Really Trying – The South Lawn
Other ideas:
- Coordinate a mental health screening event which allows for a quick “snapshot” of one’s mental health
  - Take a Mental Health Test – MHA Screening
- Volunteer with mental health organizations like SafeSpace and the Taarika Foundation!
- Get involved in political change and recognize which local and national candidates support mental health legislation
  - Vote Like Your Mental Health Depends on it – Talkspace

We hope these suggestions empower you to take action and raise awareness for mental health as we go “Back to Basics” for this month!

Works Cited:

“Starting to Think about Mental Health.” Mental Health America, https://mhanational.org/starting-think-about-mental-health.