Since Mental Health Awareness Week has a whole seven days or so dedicated to it- why not spend a few days unpacking it, right? There is so much that goes into this week from it’s growth, the stories that are unmasked during it, the different sectors of awareness, the list could go on and on. But now that we’ve talked about the expansion and what exactly it was focusing on- how about what do they actually DO?

Organizations like the MHA ( Mental Health Awareness ) and NAMI ( National Alliance on Mental Illness ) donate their time and resources promoting mental illness all across the entire year, but even more so on the first week of October, or the mental health awareness week. These brilliant and inspiring organizations not only hold important conversations pertaining the topic, but events to get more and more people participating in this important conversation.

The MHA includes events like Wellness Day Expo that includes massage therapy, wellness products, workshops, healing modalities and more! They also hold an event that engages children in the arts to help them express themselves in a happy and healthy way. They also dedicated each day of the week for a different sector of mental health : Monday- Anxiety, Tuesday- Bipolar Disorder, Wednesday- Psychosis, Thursday- Eating Disorders, Friday-Depression, Saturday- PTSD, and Sunday- Addiction/ Substance Abuse Disorder. They also provide more information on just what each of these illnesses entails on their website.

NAMI continues this interactive mental health awareness experience with messaging guides about how to navigate conversations of mental health, places to share your own personal story safely and in a community with compassion, walks for mental health and so much more.

Now if you cannot attend or participate in any of these events- do not fret! In weeks and months dedicated to mental health awareness, something as simple as wearing the color green shows support for those suffering of mental illness and helps to rid the stigma that devours our society.