Housing is more than just protection from the outdoor elements. Safe and stable housing is a basic need, and it can be difficult or impossible to care for your mental health if that need is not met. Stable Housing Stable (or secure) housing means that you aren’t living in uncertainty...
Skills to Help Deal with Anxiety
Last Sunday’s forum featured Fidgety Fairy Tales Theater Troupe’s performance about anxiety and mental health. Below are additional skills that the Mental Health Ministry would like to share that may help in dealing with anxiety: To help decrease our anxiety, help us make better decisions, and process information more rationally,...
March is Problem Gambling Month
For many, the culmination of the NCAA basketball season is a fun, exciting time. For others, March Madness is another opportunity to engage in an activity that has gone from recreational to addictive. March is Problem Gambling Month, a chance to look at personal gambling habits or those of a...
Mental Health Minute: A Reminder on Seasonal Affective Disorder
The our heavy-duty winter the season can take a noticeable toll on us all. Being pent up inside can lead to the onset of depression, commonly known as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). According to the NIMH, https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/seasonal-affective-disorder, symptoms of SAD can include: depressed mood, weight gain, sleeping more than usual,...
Mental Health Minute: Be Still Amid the Advent Chaos
by Gloria Dei and Mental Health Ministry member Ellen Whitted Shopping lists, over extended schedules, mall parking lots that are filled with impatient shoppers, one more holiday card to send, grocery shopping… be still. An added commitment because you forgot about the school band concert, shoveling snow, buying the last...
Mental Health Minute: Housing Help Provides Stability
Everyone needs safe, decent, stable housing. For some of the most vulnerable people in America — people with mental illness, chronic health conditions, histories of trauma, and other struggles — a home helps them to get adequate treatment and start on the path toward recovery. But some conditions make it...
Seeing the light about Seasonal Affective Disorder
The drastic shortening of daylight as we approach winter is noticeable to all. For some, this change signals the onset of depression, commonly known as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). According to the NIMH, symptoms of SAD can include: depressed mood, weight gain, sleeping more than usual, and an urge to...