MAKE A DATE IN MAY TO SET GOALS TO IMPROVE YOUR MENTAL HEALTH

Dan Mucci • May 16, 2023

Every day you should make your mental health a priority. During the month of May, National Mental Health Awareness Month, this is a great time to take inventory of your mental health and look to establish positive habit-forming strategies.


When the clock strikes midnight on Dec. 31, many of us vow to make a New Year’s resolution for our physical health. Think of this month as Dec. 31 and make some healthy changes for your mind. Soon, you may recognize taking care of your mental health also helps your physical health.

How can one get started? Similar to making your new year’s resolution, pick a date on the calendar in May. From that date forward, implement a new coping skill or strategy each day. Like any resolution or change, it will take 21 days to form a habit.

Here are a few suggestions you can implement to help your mental health toolbox:

  • Try applying yoga or mediation into your daily routine.
  • Yoga is a practice that connects the body, breath and mind. It uses physical posture, breathing exercises and meditation to improve overall health.
  • Meditation can give you a sense of calm, peace and balance that can benefit both your well-being and your overall health.
  • The weather is getting nicer outside. Start with a short walk and gradually increase the distance over time. Many areas have built trails connecting different townships and their park systems.
  • Drink plenty of water – drinking water can prevent dehydration, a condition that can cause unclear thinking, result in mood change, cause your body to overheat and lead to constipation and kidney stones.
  • Eating healthy – the benefits of eating healthy snacks in between meals may provide a boost of energy if several hours pass between meals and blood glucose level drops. Good healthy snacks include nutrients when choosing certain snacks like fresh fruit or nuts.
  • Plenty of rest – being well rested will lower your risk for serious health problems, like diabetes and heart disease. Being well rested will reduce stress and improve your mood.
  • Listen to music or your favorite playlist.
  • Have a trusted person to speak with to help you navigate through challenging situations.
  • Plan to start gardening. Gardening may help lighten your mood and lower levels of stress and anxiety. It may be gratifying to plant, tend and harvest and share your own food. A gardening routine, such as watering and weeding, can create a soothing rhythm to ease stress.


Many of the suggestions listed above are individual tips to improve your personal toolbox to help your coping skills. Here are a few tips to help you in larger settings to boost your mental health.


  • Plan a time to do an activity with your immediate or extended family without phones and social media.
  • Plan a friend’s evening out or schedule time with one or more couples for a group outing.

Other fun activities to do are puzzles, crossword puzzles, journaling, drawing, painting or any activity you enjoy.


Today, mental health appears to be a buzzword or popular phrase, but the reality is everyone’s mental health is on display every day. And throughout the course of a day, there are many challenges that can affect your mental health. Be kind to yourself and kind to others. Remember, you can take a pause during the day to collect your thoughts!

In the Mission Advancement department at C&A, we are starting to implement wellness stations for when we need a “pause.” Stations included are an area to do a puzzle and a gratitude station. As this initiative moves further along, more wellness areas will be created for team members to pause, collect their thoughts and then move back to the task at hand.


During this month, take inventory of what you can do to restock your shelves and implement new mental health and coping strategies to be your best both physically and mentally!

Dan Mucci is the author of this blog post. Mucci, C&A’s Mission Advancement Director, has more than 20 years of writing experience. To learn more about the services the agency offers, visit www.childandadolescent.org , call 330.433.6075 or email dmucci@childandadolescent.org.

RECENT POSTS

SEASONAL AFFECTIVE DISORDER

By Mary M. Kreitz • November 21, 2024
For many people changes in the seasons also bring changes in mood, energy, sleep, weight and appetite. Some researchers have found that as many as 90% of people report noticing these types of changes in themselves. However, for some people, the changes are so intense that they interfere with the person’s ability to function in their daily life.  Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD is a type of clinical depression that occurs with a consistent seasonal pattern. The symptoms of SAD are the same as those for other depressive disorders; what is different is that the symptoms begin every year around the same time, last for several months, and then go away for the rest of the year. The most common form of SAD is what is known as winter-pattern SAD in which depressive symptoms start in the fall or early winter and end in the spring. Another less common form is known as summer-pattern SAD and is associated with depressive symptoms that occur during the spring and summer months and improve in the fall.

ELECTION ANXIETY

By Mary M. Kreitz • November 6, 2024
The 2024 election has brought a lot of fear and stress into the lives of people throughout the country. A recent survey by the American Psychological Association found that 77% of adults in the US are worried about the future of the nation, 73% reported feeling stressed out about the economy and 69% reported feeling stressed about the presidential election. When adults are feeling this high of a level of stress, you can bet that children and adolescents are feeling it too.

TRUSTED ADULT

By Daniel Mucci • October 1, 2024
Are you a trusted adult to your child or someone’s child in your life? What are the characteristics of a trusted adult?  Trusted adults are viewed by children or adolescents as a safe figure that listens without judgment, agenda or expectation, but with the sole purpose of supporting and encouraging positivity within a young person’s life. Today’s youth identify a trusted adult as someone who is willing to listen and engage, rather than lecture and give orders. Young adults are interested in having open conversations about mental health, social media, bullying and sharing their own experiences.

LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE

By Daniel Mucci • September 9, 2024
Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health’s (C&A) The Canton Repository Let Your Light Shine presented by the Massillon Eagles FOE #190 is Sept. 21 at the DoubleTree by Hilton, Canton, from 6-9 p.m. The 19th annual event supports the youth mental health programs and services C&A provides each year to our 4,100 clients.

WHY PRIDE MATTERS FROM A BEHAVIORAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVE

By Mary M. Kreitz • June 18, 2024
You have probably heard the scary statistics. LGBTQ+ youth are at higher risk for serious mental health problems (such as anxiety and depression) than their non-LGBTQ+ peers. They’re more likely to consider suicide, more likely to attempt suicide and more likely to engage in non-suicidal self-harm.

HOPE AND HOPELESSNESS

By Dr. Robert Willoughby • June 4, 2024
Hope and hopelessness play a large role in the phenomenon of suicide and depression including that of children and adolescents (Liu, et al., 2021). On the positive side I am always reminded of the use of hope to overcome hopelessness in stories reminiscent of a hero’s journey. Stories, where in the face of insurmountable odds, one digs in deep to find themselves, their own hope, and the hope of others joining together to help whilst overcoming trials and tribulations (Campbell, 2011).

988 IS LIFELINE IN A MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS

By Dan Mucci • May 16, 2024
Suicidal ideation is on the rise nationwide, especially among teenagers and college-age students. Post COVID, adolescents are struggling to handle a variety of situations and have limited coping skills to help them through the challenges. One of the biggest challenges is loneliness.

STARK COUNTY SCHOOLS MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS

By Dan Mucci • April 16, 2024
The sixth annual Stark County Schools Mental Health Awareness Week is May 6-10 Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health (C&A), CommQuest Services and Pathway Caring for Children will partner to bring positive mental health awareness to more than 53,000 students and 7,000 support and administrative staff in all 18 Stark County School districts.

UNDERSTANDING RACE IN SOCIETY AND THERAPY: CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS’ EXPERIENCES

By Chris Alpert • November 16, 2023
In the film, I’m Not Racist… Am I? as introduced and explored in first of this three-part blog post series, the participants engaged in multiple workshops that address race and racism. Interpersonally, the group of students grapple with their own differences and similarities, which impact the content and emotions they share with each other. There are several moments in the film that demonstrate the clear differences in the participants’ understanding of race. In the first workshop, the students were exposed to the idea that all white people are inherently racist seeing as American society was founded on principles meant to support white people (see more on structural racism here, here, and here for further understanding). Several white students in the film became emotional during that workshop. Most students remained quiet. Following this workshop, a black student and a white student were filmed independently of each other in their own homes and discussed the workshop and what they learned with their families. The white student discussed the differences between structural racism and bigotry with her mother and struggled to identify with the principles taught in the training. The black student stated to his mother how almost everything spoken in that workshop applied to him. The student further discussed his feelings by stating how overt racism is and yet how “subliminal” it is at the same time. How can something be so in your face and yet under your feet simultaneously? I immediately reflected on the dialectic of something being so clear and yet so vague. The film continued to grapple with student differences. At the beginning of the film, one white male student discussed with his mother how he feels that all individuals, if they apply themselves wholeheartedly, have the same chance of success regardless of their skin, gender, sexuality or other demographic factors. As a white man myself, I must confess that when I was in high school, I had the same mindset. How could it be different? Especially when I was reading mythic bootstrap literature in high school classes. Sure, the harder you work the more you deserve, but that statement does not work for all Americans. I had not accounted for racial factors that inhibit the growth of others, not to mention socio-economic factors, nationalities, citizenship status, gender and age. I continued to reflect on these statements and connected them to my experience in high school in New York City. In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement responding to the murder of George Floyd, multiple private progressive schools in New York, including the one I went to, suffered scrutiny from students and alumni who identify as black, indigenous people of color (BIPOC). Multiple Instagram accounts surfaced with the handle “BLACK AT [school name].” I read the posts in 2020, and again before writing this post, and remembered feeling horrified knowing these acts of racism, bigotry and microaggressions happened all around me. This was subliminal to me, yet overt to others.
More Posts