May is mental health month, and Partners in Mental Health and Well-being, part of SaskAbilities, is celebrating online. Each week of May will feature a different theme, with a wide range of information connected to that theme to help educate people on mental health and what they can do for themselves and others.
Kim Thomas, Program Coordinator, said that this is a virtual awareness campaign, planned around social media posts, events and interviews, with the goal of educating people through the different themes. The first theme was promoting the Canadian Mental Health Association, and celebrating their 100 year anniversary, themed around keeping connected.
“It’s all about having real conversations about how we’re really feeling.”
The second week, this week, is focused around mental health in the workplace, focused around coping mechanisms whether someone’s working in their regular office or at home.
The third week is focused around children and youth. There will be a yoga presentation for children and youth, and a presentation by Kerrie Shearer, guidance counselor at Sacred Heart High School, sharing tools and strategies to help youth.
The fourth week will be focused on self-care, with a virtual “Pound with Kaylee” class, as well as a virtual paint night being featured.
All activities and posts will be at the SaskAbilities - Yorkton Region Facebook page.
Of course this is a unique year, and Thomas said that the stresses surrounding living through a pandemic make it especially important for people to be mindful of their mental health and well-being.
“I think it’s extremely important. Right now there’s just so much anxiety about the unknown. There’s stress about people working, or not working, or not having the support that they’re used to, and not being on their regular routine. That all affects our mental health in so many ways.”
It’s a family month, and Thomas said that kids are facing their own stress, especially with the early end of the school year, and routines being upended.
“It’s affecting all of us in so many different ways, so it needs to be out there, that awareness piece, that everybody, of all ages, needs to take care of themselves and cope the way that makes sense.”
It’s different to do it entirely online, and took more innovation, and Thomas said it fits with society being ‘more comfortable with being uncomfortable’ and more comfortable with using technology.
“We’re working from home, and we have a lot of people we support. One of the things we’ve done is we have a Facebook group, doing virtual activities and weekly programming. As well, we do weekly check-ins with people we support. I’ve noticed that the one-on-one individual time, I’m learning so much about the people I support in ways I never even knew before, just having those one-on-one conversations.”
Part of the goal is to reach out to people who could be helped by the services they offer. People can call 1-833-444-4126 or 306-621-1808 or email [email protected] if they want to have support with Partners in Mental Health and Well-being.
All of the activities and presentations will be at https://www.facebook.com/saskabilitiesYorktonRegion/
