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Mental Health Awareness Month Zoom Backgrounds: Elevate Your Virtual Meetings with Support
Introduction:
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, a crucial time to prioritize mental well-being and reduce the stigma surrounding mental health challenges. This year, why not extend your support beyond social media posts and integrate it directly into your daily routines? This blog post provides you with a comprehensive guide to finding, creating, and utilizing impactful Mental Health Awareness Month Zoom backgrounds. We'll explore diverse options, from professionally designed graphics to DIY creations, ensuring your virtual meetings subtly yet powerfully reflect your commitment to mental health. We'll delve into the importance of visual communication, offer tips for choosing the right background, and even guide you through creating your own personalized design, complete with downloadable resources and inspiration. Get ready to transform your Zoom calls into platforms for advocacy and connection.
1. The Power of Visual Communication in Mental Health Advocacy:
Visual cues are remarkably effective in communicating messages and shifting perceptions. A thoughtfully chosen Zoom background for Mental Health Awareness Month can subtly yet powerfully normalize conversations about mental health. It can act as a visual prompt, encouraging colleagues, friends, or family to open up about their experiences or simply to acknowledge the importance of mental well-being. By incorporating relevant imagery, you're silently promoting awareness and subtly inviting dialogue, creating a more inclusive and understanding virtual environment. This visual advocacy is especially impactful during virtual meetings where nonverbal communication plays a significant role.
2. Finding the Perfect Mental Health Awareness Month Zoom Background:
The internet offers a treasure trove of free and paid Zoom backgrounds designed for Mental Health Awareness Month. Here’s what to consider when searching:
Professional Designs: Websites like Canva, Creative Market, and Etsy offer professionally designed backgrounds with high-quality graphics and thoughtful messaging. Search for keywords like "mental health awareness," "mental wellness," "self-care," or "mindfulness." Pay attention to the license to ensure you’re using the background legally.
Free Resources: Many organizations dedicated to mental health awareness offer free downloadable backgrounds on their websites. Check out the resources sections of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), the Mental Health America (MHA), and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) websites. Look for images that resonate with you personally and that accurately reflect your support for mental health.
Simplicity vs. Detail: While intricate designs can be visually appealing, a simpler background is often more effective in a professional setting. Avoid overly busy or distracting images that could detract from your meeting. Opt for subtle imagery that complements your appearance and doesn't clash with your attire.
3. Creating Your Own Personalized Mental Health Awareness Month Zoom Background:
If you’re feeling creative, designing your own background offers a unique opportunity for self-expression and personalized advocacy. Here’s a step-by-step guide:
Choose your software: Canva, Adobe Photoshop, or even PowerPoint are excellent options for creating a background.
Select your imagery: Use high-resolution images from reputable sources like Unsplash or Pexels, ensuring you have the rights to use them. Consider imagery that represents themes like hope, resilience, calmness, or nature’s restorative power.
Add text (optionally): Keep text minimal and impactful. Phrases like "Mental Health Matters," "You Are Not Alone," or "Prioritize Your Well-being" can be powerful additions. Choose a font that's easy to read and complements the overall design.
Color palette: Use a calming color palette that aligns with the overall message. Blues, greens, and soft pastels often evoke feelings of peace and tranquility.
Size and resolution: Ensure your background meets Zoom's recommended dimensions for optimal quality.
4. Setting Your Mental Health Awareness Month Zoom Background:
Once you've chosen or created your background, setting it in Zoom is straightforward. In the Zoom app, navigate to your settings, select the "Virtual Background" option, and upload your image. Test the background before your meeting to ensure it looks crisp and professional.
5. Beyond the Background: Integrating Mental Health Awareness into Your Meetings:
A Zoom background is just the starting point. Consider incorporating mental health awareness into the meeting itself:
Start with a check-in: Briefly ask participants how they are doing, creating space for honest sharing.
Share resources: Include links to relevant mental health resources in your meeting chat or agenda.
Mindful breaks: Incorporate short mindfulness exercises or breathing techniques.
Lead by example: Openly discuss your own mental health experiences (if you feel comfortable) to foster a culture of openness.
Article Outline: Mental Health Awareness Month Zoom Backgrounds
I. Introduction: Hook the reader with the importance of visual advocacy and the value of using thematic Zoom backgrounds.
II. The Power of Visual Communication: Discuss how visual cues influence perceptions and encourage dialogue around mental health.
III. Finding the Perfect Background: Explore options such as professional designs, free resources, and considerations for choosing the right image.
IV. Creating Your Own Background: Provide a step-by-step guide for designing a personalized background using readily available software and resources.
V. Setting Your Zoom Background: Briefly explain the technical process of uploading and using a custom Zoom background.
VI. Extending the Awareness: Suggest ways to further integrate mental health awareness into your Zoom meetings beyond just the background.
VII. Conclusion: Reiterate the importance of using Zoom backgrounds as a subtle yet effective tool for mental health advocacy.
FAQs:
1. Where can I find free, high-quality Mental Health Awareness Month Zoom backgrounds? Many mental health organizations offer free downloads on their websites. You can also find free options on sites like Unsplash and Pexels, ensuring you check the usage license.
2. What software do I need to create my own background? Canva, Adobe Photoshop, and even PowerPoint are suitable options depending on your design skills and access to software.
3. What are some good phrases to include on my background? Keep it concise and impactful. "Mental Health Matters," "You Are Not Alone," and "Prioritize Your Well-being" are good starting points.
4. How can I make sure my background doesn't distract from the meeting? Opt for simpler designs and avoid overly busy or bright images.
5. Is it appropriate to use a Mental Health Awareness Month background in a professional setting? Absolutely! It shows your support for a crucial cause and can spark positive conversations.
6. Can I use copyrighted images for my Zoom background? No, always use royalty-free images or images you have permission to use to avoid copyright infringement.
7. What size should my Zoom background be? Check Zoom's specifications for optimal image dimensions.
8. How do I add a background to Zoom on my mobile device? The process is similar on mobile devices; look for the "Virtual Background" option in your Zoom settings.
9. What if my chosen background doesn’t fit perfectly? Zoom usually adjusts the image to fit your screen, but you might need to crop or resize your image beforehand for optimal results.
Related Articles:
1. Top 10 Mental Health Resources for Employees: A curated list of online and offline resources for supporting employee well-being.
2. How to Promote Mental Health in the Workplace: Practical strategies for fostering a supportive and inclusive work environment.
3. The Importance of Self-Care for Mental Wellness: A guide to self-care practices for better mental health.
4. Understanding Common Mental Health Challenges: A resource for identifying and addressing mental health concerns.
5. Building Resilience: Coping Mechanisms for Difficult Times: Strategies for building emotional resilience.
6. Stress Management Techniques for the Modern Workplace: Effective techniques for managing work-related stress.
7. The Role of Mindfulness in Mental Well-being: Exploring the benefits of mindfulness practices for mental health.
8. Communicating About Mental Health with Loved Ones: Tips for having constructive conversations about mental health with family and friends.
9. Creating a Supportive Mental Health Culture at Home: Strategies for creating a positive and understanding environment at home.
| mental health awareness month zoom background: I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die Sarah J. Robinson, 2021-05-11 A compassionate, shame-free guide for your darkest days “A one-of-a-kind book . . . to read for yourself or give to a struggling friend or loved one without the fear that depression and suicidal thoughts will be minimized, medicalized or over-spiritualized.”—Kay Warren, cofounder of Saddleback Church What happens when loving Jesus doesn’t cure you of depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts? You might be crushed by shame over your mental illness, only to be told by well-meaning Christians to “choose joy” and “pray more.” So you beg God to take away the pain, but nothing eases the ache inside. As darkness lingers and color drains from your world, you’re left wondering if God has abandoned you. You just want a way out. But there’s hope. In I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die, Sarah J. Robinson offers a healthy, practical, and shame-free guide for Christians struggling with mental illness. With unflinching honesty, Sarah shares her story of battling depression and fighting to stay alive despite toxic theology that made her afraid to seek help outside the church. Pairing her own story with scriptural insights, mental health research, and simple practices, Sarah helps you reconnect with the God who is present in our deepest anguish and discover that you are worth everything it takes to get better. Beautifully written and full of hard-won wisdom, I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die offers a path toward a rich, hope-filled life in Christ, even when healing doesn’t look like what you expect. |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: A Caring Mind Matthew McKenzie, 2020-09-28 This book is about an unpaid carer (Matthew Mckenzie) experiences caring for his mother. Mental illness carries stigma, struggles and painful memories. The book A caring mind opens up the caring journey and aims to promote the importance of carers and also seek to inspire carers to change things for the better. |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: A Soft Voice in a Noisy World Karl Robb, 2012-11 A compilation of insights, practical tools and inspirational suggestions for improving mind-body connection and empowering healing. |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: SHHH! DON’T TALK ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH Arjun Gupta, 2019-07-09 In the 19th year of his life, Yashasvi tried to end his life. Follow the journey of Yashasvi and millions of other people who are tormented by their own minds. This is not a self-help book. Mental health is no longer just about helping yourself. It is a movement against an invisible crisis that breeds inside our minds. A crisis that makes you question the voice in your head. Yes, the same voice that is reading this out to you. True stories, research, statistics and facts. This book will convince you why mental health cannot be just about self-help anymore, and why people like Yashasvi need our help. |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: Parenting Forward Cindy Wang Brandt, 2019-02-26 A progressive Christian parenting book with a social-justice orientation How do we build a better world? One key way, says Cindy Wang Brandt, is by learning to raise our children with justice, mercy, and kindness. In Parenting Forward Brandt equips Christian parents to model a way of following Jesus that has an outward focus, putting priority on loving others, avoiding judgment, and helping those in need. She shows how parents must work on dismantling their own racial, cultural, gender, economic, and religious biases in order to avoid passing them on to their children. “By becoming aware of the complex ways we participate in systems of inequality or hierarchy,” she says, “we begin to resist systemic injustice ourselves, empower our children, and change our communities.” |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: The Unapologetic Guide to Black Mental Health Rheeda Walker, 2020-05-01 An unapologetic exploration of the Black mental health crisis—and a comprehensive road map to getting the care you deserve in an unequal system. We can’t deny it any longer: there is a Black mental health crisis in our world today. Black people die at disproportionately high rates due to chronic illness, suffer from poverty, under-education, and the effects of racism. This book is an exploration of Black mental health in today’s world, the forces that have undermined mental health progress for African Americans, and what needs to happen for African Americans to heal psychological distress, find community, and undo years of stigma and marginalization in order to access effective mental health care. In The Unapologetic Guide to Black Mental Health, psychologist and African American mental health expert Rheeda Walker offers important information on the mental health crisis in the Black community, how to combat stigma, spot potential mental illness, how to practice emotional wellness, and how to get the best care possible in system steeped in racial bias. This breakthrough book will help you: Recognize mental and emotional health problems Understand the myriad ways in which these problems impact overall health and quality of life and relationships Develop psychological tools to neutralize ongoing stressors and live more fully Navigate a mental health care system that is unequal It’s past time to take Black mental health seriously. Whether you suffer yourself, have a loved one who needs help, or are a mental health professional working with the Black community, this book is an essential and much-needed resource. |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States United States. Congress. House, 2010 Some vols. include supplemental journals of such proceedings of the sessions, as, during the time they were depending, were ordered to be kept secret, and respecting which the injunction of secrecy was afterwards taken off by the order of the House. |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: Ask a Manager Alison Green, 2018-05-01 From the creator of the popular website Ask a Manager and New York’s work-advice columnist comes a witty, practical guide to 200 difficult professional conversations—featuring all-new advice! There’s a reason Alison Green has been called “the Dear Abby of the work world.” Ten years as a workplace-advice columnist have taught her that people avoid awkward conversations in the office because they simply don’t know what to say. Thankfully, Green does—and in this incredibly helpful book, she tackles the tough discussions you may need to have during your career. You’ll learn what to say when • coworkers push their work on you—then take credit for it • you accidentally trash-talk someone in an email then hit “reply all” • you’re being micromanaged—or not being managed at all • you catch a colleague in a lie • your boss seems unhappy with your work • your cubemate’s loud speakerphone is making you homicidal • you got drunk at the holiday party Praise for Ask a Manager “A must-read for anyone who works . . . [Alison Green’s] advice boils down to the idea that you should be professional (even when others are not) and that communicating in a straightforward manner with candor and kindness will get you far, no matter where you work.”—Booklist (starred review) “The author’s friendly, warm, no-nonsense writing is a pleasure to read, and her advice can be widely applied to relationships in all areas of readers’ lives. Ideal for anyone new to the job market or new to management, or anyone hoping to improve their work experience.”—Library Journal (starred review) “I am a huge fan of Alison Green’s Ask a Manager column. This book is even better. It teaches us how to deal with many of the most vexing big and little problems in our workplaces—and to do so with grace, confidence, and a sense of humor.”—Robert Sutton, Stanford professor and author of The No Asshole Rule and The Asshole Survival Guide “Ask a Manager is the ultimate playbook for navigating the traditional workforce in a diplomatic but firm way.”—Erin Lowry, author of Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: Tony's Superhero Story Anthony Santilli LMFT, 2021-10-22 In Tony’s youth, he loved to swim with dolphins and fantasized about visiting a magical place called the Water Kingdom in the deep waters of the ocean. The dolphins taught Tony the martial art of waterbending that allowed him to control and bend water. Tony’s passion for dolphins, waterbending and the Water Kingdom continued into his teen years. Even though Tony was a talented waterbender, he felt confused about his identity, specifically as a gay teenager. Tony was targeted by a bully for being gay. Due to his insecurities, the traumas of being bullied and his inability to heal, Tony succumbed to depression and despair. Tony attempted suicide by drowning. He survived his drowning attempt, but lost his ability to waterbend. At his lowest point, Tony sought support from a Magical Healer who helped him heal. Newly empowered, Tony began his superhero quest, using water magic to reignite his passion for dolphins and to find the Water Kingdom. Will Tony be able to use his water magic to swim again with the dolphins and visit the Water Kingdom? |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: Dr. Seuss's Horse Museum Dr. Seuss, 2019-09-03 This #1 New York Times bestseller is the perfect gift for the young artist in your life! A never-before-published Dr. Seuss non-fiction book about creating and looking at art! Based on an unrhymed manuscript and sketches discovered in 2013, this book is like a visit to a museum—with a horse as your guide! Explore how different artists have seen horses, and maybe even find a new way of looking at them yourself. Discover full-color photographic art reproductions of pieces by Picasso, George Stubbs, Rosa Bonheur, Alexander Calder, Jacob Lawrence, Deborah Butterfield, Franz Marc, Jackson Pollock, and many others—all of which feature a horse! Young readers will find themselves delightfully transported by the engaging equines as they learn about the creative process and how to see art in new ways. Taking inspiration from Dr. Seuss’s original sketches, acclaimed illustrator Andrew Joyner has created a look that is both subtly Seussian and wholly his own. His whimsical illustrations are combined throughout with “real-life” art. Cameo appearances by classic Dr. Seuss characters (among them the Cat in the Hat, the Grinch, and Horton the Elephant) make Dr. Seuss’s Horse Museum a playful picture book that is totally unique. Ideal for home or classroom use, it encourages critical thinking and makes a great gift for Seuss fans, artists, and horse lovers of all ages. Publisher’s Notes discuss the discovery of the manuscript and sketches, Dr. Seuss’s interest in understanding modern art, the process of creating the book, and information about each of the artists and art reproductions in the book. |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: When Your Teen Has an Eating Disorder Lauren Muhlheim, 2018-09-01 If your teen has an eating disorder—such as anorexia, bulimia, or binge eating—you may feel helpless, worried, or uncertain about how you can best support them. That’s why you need real, proven-effective strategies you can use right away. Whether used in conjunction with treatment or on its own, this book offers an evidence-based approach you can use now to help your teen make healthy choices and stay well in body and mind. When Your Teen Has an Eating Disorder will empower you to help your teen using a unique, family-based treatment (FBT) approach. With this guide, you’ll learn to respectfully and lovingly oversee your teen’s nutritional rehabilitation, which includes helping to normalize eating behaviors, managing meals, expanding food flexibility, teaching independent and intuitive eating habits, and using coping strategies and recovery skills to prevent relapse. In addition to helping parents and caregivers, this book is a wonderful resource for mental health professionals, teachers, counselors, and coaches who work with parents of and teens with eating disorders. It clearly outlines the principles of FBT and the process of involving parents collaboratively in treatment. As a parent, feeding your child is a fundamental act of love—it has been from the start! However, when a child is affected by an eating disorder, parents often lose confidence in performing this basic task. This compassionate guide will help you gain the confidence needed to nurture your teen and help them heal. |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump Bandy X. Lee, 2019-03-19 As this bestseller predicted, Trump has only grown more erratic and dangerous as the pressures on him mount. This new edition includes new essays bringing the book up to date—because this is still not normal. Originally released in fall 2017, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump was a runaway bestseller. Alarmed Americans and international onlookers wanted to know: What is wrong with him? That question still plagues us. The Trump administration has proven as chaotic and destructive as its opponents feared, and the man at the center of it all remains a cipher. Constrained by the APA’s “Goldwater rule,” which inhibits mental health professionals from diagnosing public figures they have not personally examined, many of those qualified to weigh in on the issue have shied away from discussing it at all. The public has thus been left to wonder whether he is mad, bad, or both. The prestigious mental health experts who have contributed to the revised and updated version of The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump argue that their moral and civic duty to warn supersedes professional neutrality. Whatever affects him, affects the nation: From the trauma people have experienced under the Trump administration to the cult-like characteristics of his followers, he has created unprecedented mental health consequences across our nation and beyond. With eight new essays (about one hundred pages of new material), this edition will cover the dangerous ramifications of Trump's unnatural state. It’s not all in our heads. It’s in his. |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: Know Your Rights and Claim Them Amnesty International, Angelina Jolie, Geraldine Van Bueren, 2021-09-17 This book is a guide for every young person who believes in a better world for all—Malala Yousafzai Adults are aware of their universal human rights of freedom and equality, but children often are ignorant of the rights they possess before reaching the age of majority. Enter Know Your Rights and Claim Them, written in partnership with Amnesty International, Angelina Jolie, and Geraldine Van Bueren. Know Your Rights and Claim Them details the rights promised in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, starting with the history of child rights, and providing a clear description of the types of child rights, the young activists from around the world who fought to defend them, and how readers can stand up for their own rights. This is the perfect book for young people who care about the world and want to make a difference—Greta Thunberg |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: I Am New Zealand: Aotearoa Through Many Eyes Random House New Zealand, 2018-10 What's your vision of New Zealand? An inner-city street in the rain, a campervan under a clear and starry night sky, a high-octane sport or a traffic jam of sheep? This book collects a range of personal views of Aotearoa from photographers, both amateur and professional, along with their thoughts on what makes New Zealand. When Nikon invited the photographic community to build an image map of the nation online (at iamnewzealand.co.nz) there was an amazing response and many creative and inspiring photographs were posted. This collection offers a range of those that truly say I AM NEW ZEALAND. All royalties from the sale of this book will go to the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand. |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: The Hormone Factor in Mental Health Linda M. Rio, 2013-09-21 Endocrine imbalances can cause a whole host of physical and mental health problems. Yet, there is currently no definitive source of information that shows how hormones can bridge the gap between mental health and medical health modalities. This book is a bold crossover between the disciplines of medical and mental health, exploring the understanding that some of the major mental diagnoses belong not only to the field of mental health but also to that of medicine. Clients with depression, anxiety, sexual dysfunction, infertility, suicidality, anger and rage, fatigue, apathy, cognitive impairments, confusion, eating disorders, and poor body image may actually be presenting symptoms of hormonal disorders. Beginning with patient stories that display the devastating effects of misdiagnosis and the struggle to obtain the correct treatment, it provides members of the mental health profession with an authentic understanding of the impact of endocrine imbalances and disorders. With contributions from some of the world's most respected physicians, psychiatrists and psychotherapists, it provides accurate medical and psychological information about hormone imbalances and disorders, how to recognise the signs in patients, and how to treat them effectively. A comprehensive resource that provides all the information needed to identify endocrine disorders in patients successfully; this book will be of immeasurable value to clinical psychologists, marriage and family therapists, social workers, doctors, nurses and mental health clinicians. |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B Teresa Toten, 2013-08-27 Two-time Governor General's Award nominee Teresa Toten is back with a compulsively readable new book for teens! When Adam meets Robyn at a support group for kids coping with obsessive-compulsive disorder, he is drawn to her almost before he can take a breath. He's determined to protect and defend her--to play Batman to her Robyn--whatever the cost. But when you're fourteen and the everyday problems of dealing with divorced parents and step-siblings are supplemented by the challenges of OCD, it's hard to imagine yourself falling in love. How can you have a normal relationship when your life is so fraught with problems? And that's not even to mention the small matter of those threatening letters Adam's mother has started to receive . . . Teresa Toten sets some tough and topical issues against the backdrop of a traditional whodunit in this engaging new novel that readers will find hard to put down. |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: The Body Keeps the Score Bessel A. Van der Kolk, 2015-09-08 Originally published by Viking Penguin, 2014. |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: Making the Tongue Dry Jen Soriano, 2020-01-07 Making the Tongue Dry is a collection of lyric essays that explore big topics in social science through an internationalist ecofeminist lens. These topics include chronic pain, intergenerational trauma, climate change, toxic masculinity, war, colonization, collective action, and the history of medicine and technology. Each of the essays in Making the Tongue Dry pushes the envelope on creative nonfiction form to allow the structure of each piece to contribute to its deeper meaning. |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: Cultural Psychology Heine, Steven J., 2020-06-10 The most contemporary and relevant introduction to the field, Cultural Psychology, Fourth Edition, is unmatched in both its presentation of current, global experimental research and its focus on helping students to think like cultural psychologists. |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: The Ghost Garden Susan Doherty, 2020-09-08 A compelling act of connection, leavened with humour, clear-eyed yet packed with hope. —Ann-Marie MacDonald A rare work of narrative non-fiction that illuminates a world most of us try not to see: the daily lives of the severely mentally ill, who are medicated, marginalized, locked away and shunned. Susan Doherty's groundbreaking book brings us a population of lost souls, ill-served by society, feared, shunted from locked wards to rooming houses to the streets to jail and back again. For the past 10 years, many who have cycled in and out of the locked wards of the Douglas Institute in Montreal found a friend in Susan, who volunteers on the wards and then accompanies her friends out into the world. With their full cooperation, she brings us intimate stories that challenge our views of people with mental illness. Through Caroline Evans, a woman in her early sixties whom Susan has known since she was a bright, sunny school girl, we experience living with schizophrenia, such as when Caroline was convinced she could save her roommate from the devil by pouring boiling water into her ear... She has been through it all, including having to navigate an indifferent justice system that is incapable of serving the severely ill. Susan interleaves Caroline's story with vignettes about her other friends—stories that reveal their hopes, circumstances, personalities, humanity. Susan found that if she can hang in through the first 10-15 minutes of every coffee date with someone in the grip of psychosis, true communication results. Their madness is not otherworldly: instead it tells us something about how they're surviving their lives and what they've been through. The Ghost Garden carries a cargo of compassion and empathy that motivates us to re-examine our understanding of justice, society and humanity. |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: The Weight of Zero Karen Fortunati, 2018-02-20 For fans of 13 Reasons Why and Girl in Pieces, this is a novel that shows the path to hope and life for a girl with mental illness. Seventeen-year-old Catherine Pulaski knows Zero is coming for her. Zero, the devastating depression born of Catherine’s bipolar disorder, almost triumphed once; that was her first suicide attempt. And so, in an old ballet-shoe box, Catherine stockpiles medications, preparing to take her own life before Zero can inflict his living death on her again. Before she goes, though, she starts a short bucket list. This bucket list, combined with the support of her family, new friends, and a new course of treatment, begins to ease Catherine’s sense of isolation. The problem is, her plan is already in place, and has been for so long that she might not be able to see a future beyond it. This is a story of loss and grief and hope, and how some of the many shapes of love—maternal, romantic, and platonic—affect a young woman’s struggle with mental illness and the stigma of treatment. |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: The Great Pretender Susannah Cahalan, 2020-01-02 'Destined to become a popular and important book' Jon Ronson 'Fascinating' Sunday Times In the early 1970s, Stanford professor Dr Rosenhan conducted an experiment, sending sane patients into psychiatric wards; the result of which was a damning paper about psychiatric practises. The ripple effects of this paper helped bring the field of psychiatry to its knees, closing down institutions and changing mental health diagnosis forever. But what if that ground-breaking and now-famous experiment was itself deeply flawed? And what does that mean for our understanding of mental illness today? These are the questions Susannah Cahalan asks in her completely engrossing investigation into this staggering case, where nothing is quite as it seems. |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: Congressional Record United States. Congress, 1968 |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: How Not to Fall Apart Maggy van Eijk, 2018-09-04 She’s [Maggy is] really funny . . . If I had a self-destructive young adult in my life . . . this is probably the book I’d get her.” —The New York Times Book Review “How Not to Fall Apart is the book that finally understands mental health, and it'll make you feel infinitely less alone.” —HelloGiggles Featured in The New York Post, Lenny Letter, BuzzFeed, and more. What no one tells you about living with anxiety and depression—learned the hard way Maggy van Eijk knows the best place to cry in public. She also knows that eating super salty licorice or swimming in icy cold water are things that make you feel alive but, unlike self-harm, aren't bad for you. These are the things to remember when you're sad. Turning 27, Maggy had the worst mental health experience of her life so far. She ended a three-year relationship. She lost friends and made bad decisions. She drank too much and went to ER over twelve times. She saw three different therapists and had three different diagnoses. She went to two burn units for self-inflicted wounds and was escorted in an ambulance to a mental health crisis center. But that's not the end of her story. Punctuated with illustrated lists reminiscent of Maggy's popular BuzzFeed posts, How Not to Fall Apart shares the author's hard-won lessons about what helps and what hurts on the road to self-awareness and better mental health. This is a book about what it's like to live with anxiety and depression, panic attacks, self-harm and self-loathing--and it's also a hopeful roadmap written by someone who's been there and is still finding her way. |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: A Common Struggle Patrick Joseph Kennedy, Stephen Fried, 2015 Patrick J. Kennedy, the former congressman and youngest child of Senator Ted Kennedy, opens up about his personal and political battle with mental illness and addiction for the first time. This candid memoir focuses on the years from his 'coming out' about suffering from bipolar disorder and addiction to the present day, and examines his journey toward recovery while reflecting on America's treatment of mental health. |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: Surviving The War Against Yourself Thomas Dunning, Amber Dunning, 2020-02-14 Love, fear and psychosis: there are two sides to every story, here we share ours. A true and disturbing account of life with a mental illness. |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: I Belong To You Modesta Tonan, 2017-04-28 After increased conflicts with her husband Anthony, a man she has loved passionately but continues to grow apart from Julia, makes a last minute decision to escape to Italy with her sisters and closest friends. Unknown feelings and complications arise, when Julia meets Sebastian; a younger and mysterious man who is captivated by her and believes they are soul mates. Twisted fate and the beautiful country side of Italy slowly awaken Julia's mind, body, and soul. Amid the historic architecture, the women enjoy friendship, food, and wine. I Belong To You, will entice your senses and make you want to pack your bags and go to Italy. |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: Refuge Recovery Noah Levine, 2014-06-10 Bestselling author and renowned Buddhist teacher Noah Levine adapts the Buddha's Four Noble Truths and Eight Fold Path into a proven and systematic approach to recovery from alcohol and drug addiction—an indispensable alternative to the 12-step program. While many desperately need the help of the 12-step recovery program, the traditional AA model's focus on an external higher power can alienate people who don't connect with its religious tenets. Refuge Recovery is a systematic method based on Buddhist principles, which integrates scientific, non-theistic, and psychological insight. Viewing addiction as cravings in the mind and body, Levine shows how a path of meditative awareness can alleviate those desires and ease suffering. Refuge Recovery includes daily meditation practices, written investigations that explore the causes and conditions of our addictions, and advice and inspiration for finding or creating a community to help you heal and awaken. Practical yet compassionate, Levine's successful Refuge Recovery system is designed for anyone interested in a non-theistic approach to recovery and requires no previous experience or knowledge of Buddhism or meditation. |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: Seeking Safety Lisa M. Najavits, 2021-05-07 This manual presents the first empirically studied, integrative treatment approach developed specifically for co-occurring PTSD and substance abuse. For persons with this prevalent and difficult-to-treat dual diagnosis, the most urgent clinical need is to establish safety--to work toward discontinuing substance use, letting go of dangerous relationships, and gaining control over such extreme symptoms as dissociation and self-harm. The manual is divided into 25 specific units or topics, addressing a range of different cognitive, behavioral, and interpersonal domains. Each topic provides highly practical tools and techniques to engage patients in treatment; teach safe coping skills that apply to both disorders; and restore ideals that have been lost, including respect, care, protection, and healing. Structured yet flexible, topics can be conducted in any order and in a range of different formats and settings. The volume is designed for maximum ease of use with a large-size format and helpful reproducible therapist sheets and handouts, which purchasers can also download and print at the companion webpage. See also the author's self-help guide Finding Your Best Self, Revised Edition: Recovery from Addiction, Trauma, or Both, an ideal client recommendation. |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: Gorilla and the Bird Zack McDermott, 2017-09-26 Glorious...one of the best memoirs I've read in years...a tragicomic gem about family, class, race, justice, and the spectacular weirdness of Wichita. [McDermott] can move from barely controlled hilarity to the brink of rage to aching tenderness in a single breath. -- Marya Hornbacher, New York Times Book Review Zack McDermott, a 26-year-old Brooklyn public defender, woke up one morning convinced he was being filmed, Truman Show-style, as part of an audition for a TV pilot. Every passerby was an actor; every car would magically stop for him; everything he saw was a cue from The Producer to help inspire the performance of a lifetime. After a manic spree around Manhattan, Zack, who is bipolar, was arrested on a subway platform and admitted to Bellevue Hospital. So begins the story of Zack's freefall into psychosis and his desperate, poignant, often hilarious struggle to claw his way back to sanity. It's a journey that will take him from New York City back to his Kansas roots and to the one person who might be able to save him, his tough, big-hearted Midwestern mother, nicknamed the Bird, whose fierce and steadfast love is the light in Zack's dark world. Before his odyssey is over, Zack will be tackled by guards in mental wards, run naked through cornfields, receive secret messages from the TV, befriend a former Navy Seal and his talking stuffed monkey, and see the Virgin Mary in the whorls of his own back hair. But with the Bird's help, he just might have a shot at pulling through, starting over, and maybe even meeting a partner who can love him back, bipolar and all. Introducing an electrifying new voice, Gorilla and the Bird is a raw and unforgettable account of a young man's unraveling and the relationship that saves him. |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: The Sibius Knot Amrita Tripathi, 2015-01-01 'You can't possibly have heard of the Sibius Knot. It's the distorted inheritor of the Mobius Strip, and you, you are but an ant on it. No, you don't think so? No, you wouldn't.' Amy, Tara and Mario are siblings growing up in the India of the 1990s. Their parents get together, split, move houses and cities, across the plains and hills, across continents and seas, and the three children have nothing but each other to rely on. Into their lives come friends - LB, the Little Bastard, Seema, Preetha, Dan, and later, Sid, Dhruv and Ruchika - and one deadly foe: HH, dark, shape-shifting, threatening, the ultimate malevolence. Mario turns his gang into an army, and together they fall down the rabbit hole, bereft but bound, into a world they do not always understand, for encounters they do not always seek. In a crushing story about growing up, Amrita Tripathi weaves a magical tapestry: of choices that aren't, against fates that are, bringing adolescence alive by way of blood, semen and sweat, and the hallucinatory passages of time that join childhood and adulthood in contemporary India, an unsettled place, at odds with itself. The Sibius Knot is a blistering novel that is a metaphor for the India of today. |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: Through the Withering Storm Leif Norgaard Gregersen, 2012-11-02 This is a book written about my life growing up with bipolar disorder. It closely follows my extensive travels, my days as an Air Cadet, days as a pilot, and the horrible experiences of being locked up in a mental hospital. Richard Van Camp, author of ten books whose latest has been made into a movie, had this to say about Through The Withering Storm: Every once in a blessing while, a voice comes out of nowhere that astonishes you with its' vulnerability and courage. Leif Gregersen is this voice for me. I pray Through The Withering Storm finds its' way to those grappling with mental illness so they can see that they are not alone and that there is support out there, and I pray that this book finds its' way into the homes of those families who are trying to find insight into what's happening to someone they love who is battling a mental illness. This book is one I will return to time an time again for humility and empathy. Thank you Leif, for your courage, and for sharing your story. -Richard Van Camp, author of The Lesser Blessed |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: The Daily Brew Maria Pita Ba, Morgan Desimone Ba, Gary Robinson Lmhc, 2018-07-27 Have you ever started a personal journal only to give up because you didn't know what to write about? Have you ever wanted to keep a journal but didn't know how to start? Well, The Daily Brew Journal might be just the thing for you! The authors have painstakingly created a 365-day template for writing about your thoughts and feelings as well as a nice mix of active, hands-on exercises to keep it interesting and to help you avoid journal fatigue. So, find a comfy chair, grab your favorite hot beverage, a good pen and start journaling! |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: 52-Week Mental Health Journal Cynthia Catchings, 2021-08-10 Nurture your well-being through a year of journaling and self-reflection Guided journaling is a simple but powerful tool. It can help you attend to your emotional needs, boost your mood, and set goals both big and small. With a focused prompt for every day of the year, the 52-Week Mental Health Journal helps you navigate four core pillars of good mental health—calm and resiliency, connection and engagement, goals and purpose, and healthy living—so you can thrive in every area of your life. This yearlong mental health journal includes: Journal prompts for mental health—Take just a few minutes each day to reduce stress, increase your connection to others, and discover deeper meaning in your life. Evidence-based methods—The exercises in this mental health journal are rooted in research-supported techniques like mindfulness and cognitive behavioral therapy. Inspiring quotes—Find wisdom and motivation with poignant words from philosophers, artists, writers, and more. Discover a clear path to improved well-being with the 52-Week Mental Health Journal. |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: Mental Health and De-Escalation Nicholas RUGGIERO, Ernest STEVENS, 2022-01-16 The law enforcement proffesion is dynamically changing with the times. Our training must do the same. Mental health interactions are one of the biggest law enforcement struggles. Our training is very limited to the police academy and somtimes field training. Ernest Stevens from the award winning HBO documentary Ernie & Joe Crisis Cops and Best selling author Nicholas Ruggiero take you through some great training and resources to learn the skill of de-escalation during mental health calls for service. |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: Gender and the Path to Awakening Martin Seeger, 2018 In this book Seeger lays out the nuances and varying conceptions of female renunciation in modern Thai Buddhism. Centered on long-term textual and ethnographic research on six remarkable female practitioners, Seeger considers trends and changes over the last 140 years in the practices of female renunciants and their devotees. He also investigates understandings of female sainthood in Thai Buddhism, its expressions in material culture, and the importance of orality and memory in Thai Buddhist epistemology. Supported by interviews and careful study of sermons, hagiographies, and hitherto untranslated and rare Thai sources, this book examines the social backgrounds, modes of expression, veneration, and historical contexts of Thai women pursuing the Buddhist ideal. Rich in ethnographic detail and with additional grounding in foundational Indian Buddhist texts, this book offers new insights into the complexities of female renunciation and gender relations in modern Thai Buddhism.--Publisher's description |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: DBT Workbook for Adults: Develop Emotional Wellbeing with Practical Exercises for Managing Fear, Stress, Worry, Anxiety, Panic Attacks and Intr Barrett Huang, 2021-09-30 Combining a wealth of practical exercises with an actionable blueprint for inspiring personal change, this DBT workbook for adults helps you to overcome anxiety and cultivate a happier, more mindful, and emotionally stable life. |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: Self-Compassion for Educators Lisa Baylis, 2021-06-15 There has never been a time in history when educators have felt such overwhelming levels of stress, burnout, and exhaustion. Still, we depend on teachers to be a positive guiding force in our children's lives - often playing simultaneous roles as educator, parent, mental health counselor, and caring friend. For educators to fulfill these vital roles, it's abundantly clear that they need to develop resiliency both inside and outside the classroom. Written by fellow educator and mindful self-compassion expert, Lisa Baylis, MEd, this book provides educators with simple, accessible, and easy-to-use practices that will inspire them to care for themselves - instead of adding to their chaos - so they can continue doing the profession they love. Within Self-Compassion for Educators, busy and overwhelmed teachers can learn how to: - Reduce feelings of shame, criticism, and self-doubt - Anchor themselves to the present moment - Develop greater compassion for themselves and others - Mitigate the effects of chronic stress and develop resilience - Cultivate a sense of gratitude - Practice self-care routines that create sustainable well-being - Avoid exhaustion and burnout |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: Untouched Jayme Bean, 2021-05-17 |
| mental health awareness month zoom background: Me and My ED Christie Begnell, 2017-03-14 'Me and My ED' uses over 60 illustrations to explore the inner workings of one of the world's most misunderstood illnesses, Eating Disorders. Written for all ages, health professionals, carers and sufferers, 'Me and My ED' allows readers to understand why someone may develop an Eating Disorder and how it's functions go far beyond a means of losing weight. 'Me and My ED' reads as a story book and is told from the perspective of someone who suffers from an Eating Disorder. Characters, Christie, and her personified Eating Disorder, Ana, share a complex and enmeshed relationship that serves as a fundamental, yet horrific period in Christie's life. It is believed that weight loss is the disease itself, however it is merely a side effect of a mental illness. 'Me and My ED' is the first of its kind to illustrate what occurs in the mind of somebody with an Eating Disorder. Professionals across the globe are also using this book to engage their clients and help them better understand their illnesses. |
