Center for Evidence to Practice working to improve behavioral health

By ASHA MURPHY, MA, LPC-S, NCC | Office of Behavioral Health Staffer

It's
May, and May is Mental Health Month! As a mental health professional, I often
experience Mental Health Month as both validating and daunting. Thoughts
pop up like, "Am I taking care of my own mental health enough?" "Am I more
stressed than my clients seem to be?" "Am I self-caring enough?" 

Then, I
pause, just breathe and ask myself if there is some audience I’m trying to win
over. The answer is almost always, "Well, no." After this fundamental
realization,  I remind myself that sometimes hairstylists have bad hair
days, professional athletes get injured, some of the best authors get writer's
block and farmers lose the occasional crop. Having expertise and/or receiving
a paycheck for a job does not imply we are superhuman. Rather, it's simple: we cannot
evade failure and that's OK.  

Brene' Brown says in her "The Gifts of
Imperfection": "Healthy striving is self-focused: 'How can I improve?'
Perfectionism is other-focused: 'What will they think?'" I believe we cannot fully support our clients, patients, spouses, children and friends without thoughtful insight into our own thoughts, feelings and lives. Here's to living this
month with thoughts and actions related to self-fulfillment, giving ourselves
grace and filling ourselves up.

Here
are some helpful journal or thought prompts to help you care for your mental
wellbeing (from Port St. Lucie hospital's page):

• Talk about your day.
• Identify things you're grateful for.
• Write a list of your coping mechanisms.
• Describe a goal.
• Write about how different you were five years ago.
• Write a letter to your body.
• List and describe your emotions.
• Write about how you'd describe yourself to a stranger.
• Describe the best compliment you've ever received.
• Write a message for yourself on bad days.