May is ‘Mental Health Month,’ but resources, awareness available year-round

 As shared in a recent Purdue Today article, May is Mental Health Month. Due to the prevalence of mental illness in the United States, resources and tools to assist are a daily necessity. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) reports:

  • One in five U.S. adults experience mental illness each year
  • One in 25 U.S. adults experience serious mental health illness each year
  • One in six U.S. youth aged 6 to 17, experience a mental health disorder each year
  • Fifty percent of all lifetime mental illness begin by age 14 and 75 percent by age 24
  • Suicide is the second leading cause of death among people aged 10 to 24  

And the numbers don’t seem to be dropping, but rather increasing in some areas.

“As a reminder, the university has several programs and tools in place to assist our Purdue community members in need of mental health and well-being support,” said Candace Shaffer, senior director of benefits in Human Resources. “Behavioral health was chosen specifically as a pillar of Purdue’s Healthy Boiler Program in order to provide another avenue of much-needed resources to our population. The Human Resources website includes information for both Purdue and community resources, and the Mental Health / Stress web page on HR’s “Working through COVID-19 website” outlines several as well in relation to the pandemic. We want our faculty, staff and students to know they are not alone, and we support them.” 

#MeMinutes Campaign

#MeMinutes is a way of inspiring family, friends and co-workers to take time for themselves, whether that is practicing yoga, taking a walk, listening to music or podcasts, spending some time outdoors in the fresh air or any other activity that promotes self-care and wellness. You can even track your daily #MeMinutes and collect your monthly totals.

While it was created for Mental Health Month, #MeMinutes can and should be used year-round. Sharing things you are doing for yourself on social media (and using the hashtag #MeMinutes) will help keep self-care to benefit mental health and well-being in the forefront.

More mental health information