CSI Observes Mental Health Awareness Month
5 May 2019 News
When you or someone you love is dealing with a mental health concern, sometimes it’s a lot to handle. It’s important to remember that mental health is essential to everyone’s overall health and well-being, and mental illnesses are common and treatable.
This May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and CSI (Comprehensive Service Integration of Fond du Lac County) is expanding upon last year’s theme of balance. We will be exploring topics of social connections and recreation, work-life balance, humor, and spirituality and religion as ways to boost mental health and general wellness. Living a healthy lifestyle will increase both our mental and physical health. Jim Salasek, PhD., of CSI adds: “Finding a reason to laugh, going for a walk with a friend, meditating, or working from home once a week can go a long way in making you both physically and mentally healthy – it’s all about finding the right balance to benefit both the mind and body.”
Overlooking our physical and mental health is easy to do, until there is a problem. Finding the right balance for everyone at every age is hard to do. Quite often people are afraid of the stigma associated with mental illness. However, mental disorders are common and often treatable. An estimated 50 million people in the United States experience a mental health disorder at some point in their lives but unfortunately only one quarter of these people will receive mental health services.
“We all know that living a healthy lifestyle is not always easy; however, it is attainable. By gradually making small changes, achieving a few goals at a time, and building on those successes we can individually set the bar for our overall mental and physical wellbeing. Doing too many things at once can be overwhelming. Start with a small number of goals and once you have mastered those, move onto others.” Brittani Woods (NAMI of Fond du Lac Co., Suicide Loss Survivor). “Finding ways to balance your energy between work, home, community, and the general ups and downs of life will help you maintain your physical and mental health. It will also help you achieve overall wellness of your mind, body, and soul. Exchanging positive energy with each other and building relationships in our community helps fuel connections, and when we feel connected to something greater than ourselves, we thrive.”
CSI is a community coalition of over 25 community stakeholders who recognize the need for the social, emotional and behavioral well-being of all of our residents. Currently CSI is implementing several strategies to improve mental health in our community. These strategies include decreasing the stigma of mental illness through education, expanding wellness initiatives and participation, expanding crisis intervention and community trauma response services, decreasing wait times for first mental health appointments and increasing effective recruitment and retention of mental health providers.
Please visit http://www.csifdl.org/ , call 920-906-6700 ext. 4721, or find us on Facebook for more information on connecting people to mental health services, local events, and tools for mental health professionals within Fond du Lac County.
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