According to the World Health Organization (WHO), every 40 seconds, someone loses their life to suicide. Join us in raising awareness of suicide, the impact it has on people around the world and the role each of us can play to help prevent it.
One of the major causes of suicide is mental illness, which affects almost half of adults in the United States. Mental illness is real, something to prioritize and often invisible. It is NOT something to judge, easy to manage, shameful or a joke.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
There’s an app for that… While much is written about the negative aspects of the impact that technology has on our lives, it also holds the potential for having a very positive impact on our overall mental health and sense of well-being. Three apps in particular are focused on helping us make time to give our mental health a mini workout each day.
- Headspace is an app to help promote mindfulness. It has a number of guided meditation sessions to help us minimize stress by focusing on the now. By getting into the habit of taking time to relax, breathe and be in the present, we develop a healthier perspective of the world around us.
- Mindspace promotes positive mood-enhancing practices by helping us set daily goals to focus on gratitude, finding alternate ways of looking at situations and creating thought journals. By taking time for these simple activities, you can alter the way you experience the world.
- 10% Happier seeks to make the practice of meditation something that is simple for anyone to try.
WHEN TO SEEK HELP
If you lose interest in once enjoyable activities, feel sad, helpless, tired or worthless, and your eating or sleeping habits change, call your BHS Clinical Coordinator at 800-245-1150 to discuss your concerns, benefits and to schedule a confidential appointment with a mental health provider. If you know someone who exhibits symptoms of a serious mental illness, encourage them to seek medical attention.
QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW WHO STRUGGLES WITH MENTAL ILLNESS
- How are you coping with what’s been happening in your life?
- Do you ever feel like just giving up?
- Are you thinking about dying?
- Are you thinking about hurting yourself?
- Are you thinking about suicide?
- Have you ever thought about suicide before, or tried to harm yourself before?
- Have you thought about how or when you’d do it?
- Do you have access to weapons or things that can be used as weapons to harm yourself?
SUICIDE PREVENTION LIFELINE
If you or someone you know may be struggling with suicidal thoughts you can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) any time of day or night, or chat online at suicidepreventionlifeline.org.