May is Mental Health Month.This month we honor our well being, our sense of connection and belonging, our pain and our sorrow. We invite you to pause with the Sunday Parkways community to reflect on your mental health journey.
If you only have a minute to spend with us today, let’s simply take a breath together as a community.
If you have a little more time, here are three ways to further explore mental health:
Learn
While we may know a thing or two about resilience, we could all use a reminder. Anyone can be resilient and we can take tangible steps to gradually build our resilience. Sunday Parkways presenting sponsor Kaiser Permanente offers resources to help people learn about mental health through www.findyourwords.org.
Take a moment for yourself to learn how to build resilience
Practice
Practicing self-care is important during times of stress and at all times. What self-care routines do you already have? Breathing and meditation exercises are a great way to practice self-care because you can meditate anytime and anywhere. Read this guide for more tips on practicing self care.
Only have five minutes? Try one of the guided meditations from UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center, available in English and Spanish.
Connect
Sometimes it is hard to talk about mental health, even with your family and close friends. Kaiser Permanente recently teamed up with StoryCorps to record and animate conversations between people with mental illness and their loved ones. In this story, a woman named Francine shares about her struggle with depression with her friend Richard.
Find more stories and learn how to talk about mental health with your family and friends at www.findyourwords.org
If you or anyone you care about is facing a mental health emergency, please call 911. Multnomah County mental health support is available 24/7. Don’t wait for a crisis to reach out for support - call right away to talk to someone.
Thank you for joining us in celebrating Mental Health Month. Stay connected with Sunday Parkways all year long on social media.
Twitter: @SundayParkways
Facebook: PortlandSundayParkways
Instagram: @portlandsundayparkways