Mental Health Articles
Positive Mental Health Tips for Coal Miners
Coal mining is labor-intensive and risky, leading to stress and mental health issues. Miners face injury, sleep disruption, job insecurity, and depression. With a 73% drop in hours worked since 1984, the rise of renewable energy adds to their struggles. H...
How to Reduce Holiday Season Stress
The winter season can be stressful with guests, family dynamics, parties, cleaning, presents, and budget concerns. Many Americans feel the mental health impact, but spending time with loved ones and enjoying good food can help. To reduce holiday stress, e...
Rediscovering Wildness: A Personal Story
First, unplug and go outside. Leave your phone behind. Walk without distractions. Notice the landscape and take note. Next, create a nature habit—nearly the opposite of a social media habit. Spend just 20 minutes a day outside. Sit on your porch, wander t...
How Kind Acts Can Help with Social Anxiety on World Kindness Day and Beyond
World Kindness Day on November 13th promotes kindness to improve the world. Brook Jones of The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation suggests daily kind acts to make others smile. Kindness benefits mental health and helps manage social anxiety by focusing on...
Mental Health After Baby
Whether it’s your first or fifth child, bringing home a new baby can be one of the most joyous yet challenging times in a person’s life, especially for the birthing parent. In addition to navigating how to care for a newborn, new mothers experience a sign...
How to Avoid and Manage Road Rage
Aggressive driving and road rage are major road issues. The 2021 Traffic Safety Culture Index shows nearly 90% of drivers see aggressive driving as very dangerous, yet about 25% admitted to it recently. Causes include running late, traffic, and anger issu...
Why It's Okay to Feel Like You're "Bad" at Meditating
In our modern world with busy schedules and constant stimulation, it is normal to experience difficulties with being still and meditating. Although we know that mindfulness can offer significant health benefits, we may not have experienced those benefits ...
Overdose Awareness and Response: A Community Responsibility
If you suspect someone is overdosing, it’s critical to act quickly. The best way to respond to an opioid overdose is to have access to Narcan®, a nasal spray that can temporarily reverse an opioid overdose.
The Benefits of Kindness on Wellbeing
Kindness is more than just a moral virtue; it's a powerful catalyst for improving both mental and physical wellbeing. Engaging in daily acts of kindness can have positive effects that enhance our quality of life and the lives of those around us. Here's a ...
How to Manage Personal Well-being During Periods of Stress
Stress is a normal part of everyday life and can even help us grow and expand. The normal or “healthy” stress of taking on a new project, getting ready for an upcoming vacation, or engaging in a hard workout can even make us feel good, motivated, and exci...
How to Prepare for a Healthcare Crises
Healthcare crises are unique to each individual and their situation and therefore can be difficult to navigate and cause intense emotions or reactions (Runciman & Merry, 2005). Because healthcare crises are rarely predictable, it can be helpful to prepare...
How Sad Music Can Help Lift Us Up When We Are Feeling Down
Maybe you found yourself listening to music that you perceived to be sad. If so, you are not alone! Research finds that some people are drawn to sad music for a variety of reasons when they are trying to manage sad feelings
Bite-sized Strategies to Make Time for Mental Health
If there is one thing the past few years has taught us, it is that we should be taking more time to focus on our mental health and wellbeing, in other words, self-care. Even the smallest act of self-care can have a positive effect, the key is to find what...
Global Day of Unplugging
From smartphones to laptops, we rely on technology for communication, entertainment, and information which has increased the time we spend watching or using screens. Striking a balance between screen time and unplugged moments is crucial for our well-bein...
Give yourself self-love and self-care this Valentine's Day
Self-care is the practice of taking the time to do things that improve your physical and mental health. It involves incorporating activities and practices that we engage in on a regular basis to reduce stress and maintain and enhance our well-being.
Did You Know Your Diet can Impact Your Mental Health During the Holiday Season?
There are many suggestions on what we can do to help manage our mental wellbeing, one being diet. Research has found a strong association with diet and anxiety, and depressive disorders (Aucoin et al., 2021; Gibson-Smith et al., 2020).
What if I Want to be Alone for the Holidays?
The holidays are seen as a time to get together with family and friends, share in traditions, and indulge in favorite foods. Some look forward to the holidays, but others might not.
Understanding and Improving Mental Health With Pets
Whether you consider yourself a cat or a dog person, research says caring for a pet can positively impact our mental health. Pets provide a sense of companionship and are typically considered to be important and valued members of the family.
Suicide Prevention Resources
If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, call 988 to connect with the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
Improving Mental Health by Increasing Protective Factors and Reducing Risk Factors
Our placement on the mental health spectrum is closely related to our personal strengths and weaknesses. People with more risk factors are more likely to react negatively to difficult situations and develop mental health disorders.
How to Build Successful Habits and Improve Mental Health
Research tells us that happiness leads to success, not the other way around. Those who believe that success causes happiness may be delaying their happiness with a counterproductive thought process: believing that they can only achieve happiness after ach...
Ask an Expert – The Digital Dilemma: Social Media’s Adverse Impact on Youth
In March, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed S.B. 152 Social Media Regulation Amendments, sponsored by Sen. Mike McKell. The bill places restrictions on social media companies and provides parents with additional tools to protect teens from the harmful effects ...
Strengthening Communities to Support Recovery & Prevent Substance Use
The factors that influence a person's susceptibility to developing a substance use disorder (SUD) are in part determined by environmental and biological factors long before the first use of substances.
Naloxone For All!
Naloxone is a medication that rapidly reverses the effects of an opioid overdose from prescription or illicit substance use and has been shown to save lives. It is the standard treatment for opioid overdose.
Using Fun to Combat Stress
The Power of Fun suggests that “true fun” has three components: playfulness, connection and flow. According to Price, you are experiencing true fun when you have an experience where all three of these factors are present.
Feeling Happy When Someone Else Succeeds Shown to Boost Mental Health
While jealousy can be a normal response, research shows that feeling happy for someone when they succeed can help boost mental health and wellbeing, increase prosocial behavior (e.g., helping others), and improve relationships
Making Lifestyle Choices to Reduce Depression Risk
There are multiple treatment options for depression, including prescription medication and counseling therapy, which can help the person learn new ways of coping with the stress that either caused the depression or made it worse.
Self-Care During the Holidays
Just as there are so many wonderful things during the holiday season, there are also many aspects that can be overwhelming, stressful, and upsetting. Financial issues, familial and personal conflict, overwhelming amounts of new holiday-related tasks, or g...
Compassion Fatigue: Not Just a Challenge for Healthcare Workers
Compassion Fatigue (CF) is often talked about with healthcare workers, but anyone can experience it, especially in the age of 24-hour news, social media, and most recently, COVID-19.
Climate Anxiety
According to a recent survey by the American Psychological Association (2020), almost half of young adults report that stress about climate change affects their daily lives.
Reducing the Stigma Surrounding Mental Health
Stigma is one of the most damaging things to the conversation around mental health. Stigma breaks down communication, support, and truth which can isolate people seeking help and keep people from getting the support they need.
Give Me 5 to S.T.A.R.T. to Improve Lives
These 5 tips are simple ways you can START to improve the lives of people around you. And without realizing it, these tips often lead to flooding feelings of warmth in your own life.
Impact of Covid-19 on Teen Anxiety and Depression
Rates of teen anxiety and depression are on the rise; between 2003 and 2021, depression and anxiety rates in teenagers have skyrocketed from 5.4% to 20% of all U.S. teens experiencing symptoms.
Grow your Happiness
Did you know that something as simple as buying a houseplant can increase your happiness? Taking care of a houseplant can have physiological and psychological health benefits such as
The Benefits of Being a Lifelong Learner
Mental health can be impacted by many different things, and research shows that being intentional about learning throughout the lifespan has a positive impact.
Nature and Mental Health
“Stop and smell the roses” is a common phrase used to tell people to slow down and appreciate what is around them, but did you know the advice to get outside where the roses are, has some science behind it?
The Mental Health Benefits of Decluttering
There is something to be said about having a clean and organized work or living space. According to a study by Princeton University, researchers discovered that our environment can positively or negatively impact our ability to complete tasks as well as o...
Practicing Mindfulness
In a busy world with instant access to technology and constant stimulation, it has never been more important to slow down and live in the present moment, or in other words, to be mindful.
What do I do With My Emotions?
In moments of distress, you may wonder, “How can I stop feeling like this?”According to dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), an evidence-based psychotherapy model, you have four ways to respond to difficult emotions in any situation (Linehan, 2015).
How To Stay Positive
What can you do to stay positive or increase positivity in your life? Research shows there are ways you can train yourself to see challenges in a positive way.
How Art Can Improve Your Mental Health
From painting to performing, here are some ways practicing art can help improve your mental health:
Simple Ways to Spend More Time in Nature
It can be difficult to spend time with nature because of busy day-to-day schedules, and it may seem especially hard to access nature sites in urban locations. Fortunately, there are several easy things you can do to spend more time with nature, no matter ...
Cultivating Self-Compassion to Improve Mental Health
In fact, one of the biggest changes that we could make to improve our mental health has to do with changing the way that we talk to ourselves toward being more compassionate.
Combat Sleep Deprivation to Improve Mental Health
March is National Sleep Awareness Month, so it is a great time to review the quantity and quality of your sleep habits. Here are a few ideas to help you improve your mental health through prioritizing quality sleep.
Put Your (Smart) Phone in the Friend Zone
No matter the level of use, setting boundaries around phone use can be beneficial for mental, emotional, and social health. So, is it time to put your (smart) phone in the Friend Zone?
The Benefits of Kindness on Mental Well-being
Did you know that February 17th is Random Acts of Kindness Day? There are plenty of reasons why being kind should be something we practice every day, including benefits to our mental health and well-being.
Growth Mindset: A New Tool to Help with Anxiety and Depression
Growth mindset can cushion or safeguard the effects of stress, anxiety, and depression and the use of unhealthy coping mechanisms. Therefore, growth mindset individuals view anxiety as temporary and an emotion they can learn to deal with using healthier c...
Creating Healthy Routines for the New Year
According to Mental Health America, having a routine is a tool used to improve mental health (Hou et al., 2020). One way that routines help improve mental health is by organizing the overwhelming everyday tasks into a pattern that seems easier to accompl...
Strategies for Staying Motivated
You have set your New Year’s goal, now what? How do you stay motivated to achieve your goals? There are basically two types of motivation: extrinsic and intrinsic
Food and Mental Health
Research is also suggesting that a change in diet choices could help to reduce the length and severity of mental illness symptoms. (University, n.d.) This is great news! Often there isn’t much we can do when we have an illness or a disease but making a ch...
The Importance of Self Appreciation
Oftentimes we leave ourselves off our gratitude list, but it is important to make sure you show self-appreciation. By recognizing and reflecting on where you’ve been and where you can go, putting time into your physical health, figuring out what it is tha...
How Body Image Affects Mental Health
Developing a positive body image takes time and effort. Be patient with yourself as you try to not only have more love for your body, but to realize you are more than a body. You are a human being with talents and qualities that are much more important th...
How Hobbies Improve Mental Health
There are many strategies we can actively engage in to improve our mental health, an often-overlooked factor is spending time on an activity that you enjoy – otherwise known as a hobby.
Building Connections for Mental Health
If you aren’t sure where to start, here are some simple ways you can build social connections to help promote mental health:
Turning Those Negative Thoughts Around
A lot of what we feel starts with how we think. Often when we experience an emotion, it starts with something we were thinking which happened because of how we interpret an experience.
Coping Substance Free for Recovery Month
So a good mental health strategy is to find a healthy way to cope without relying on non-prescription chemicals. This is something we all need to learn, whether or not substance use has been a problem in the past. The good news is that ther
Supporting a Loved One with Mental Health Illnesses
It can be difficult and heartbreaking to watch a family member or friend struggle with mental illness. Family and friends can often feel helpless, but in reality they can make a huge difference in recovery process.
Fostering Resilience in Youth
Resilience is the ability to rebound from negative events without it impairing social, mental, or emotional well-being. To increase one’s ability to bounce back from difficulties, there are specific protective factors that are necessary.
Awareness is a Key to Empathy and Hope for the Future
The hope is to raise awareness, of overdose and how it is preventable. International Overdose Awareness Day is a day to learn about community services and how to prevent drug-related harm.
Simple Exercises to Improve Your Mental Health Today
Our mental health is influenced by a variety of factors, but it’s good to remember that simple tweaks can alter your mood. It’s important to step back, slow down, and smell the roses every so often.
Simple Ways to Cheer Up the Lonely
It is important that we help our loved ones from feeling lonely, and even though some external factors (like the COVID-19 Pandemic) may not allow us to see them in person, there are many different ways that we can make sure that the people we love know th...
Summertime Mental Health Tips
According to researchers there are many different reasons as to why summertime can bring on the blues, even though the sun is shining (Borges, 2019). Some of these reasons are lack of structure, loneliness, fear of missing out, and unrealistic expectation...
Self Care for Women
Research indicates that consistent self-care can increase concentration, diminish depression and anxiety, decrease stress and frustration, and increase energy and happiness. Self-care can positively affect our physical health by decreasing stroke, cancer,...
Highlighting the Role of Parents During National Prevention Week
According to SAMHSA, over 80% of people ages 10-18 say their parents are the primary influence on whether or not they decide to experiment with drugs or alcohol. This is why a team at SAMHSA created the “Talk. They Hear You.”® media campaign.
Stress Awareness & Tips
Did you know that April is Stress Awareness Month? Stress is something that we all face, and it can affect our health if we let it take over our lives. Luckily, understanding stress and knowing how to reduce it can help us through stressful times as well ...
Gardening and Mental Health
Researchers reviewed 22 case studies on the health and well-being benefits of gardening. They found a number of benefits that either reduced mental health challenges or increased mental health and wellbeing. Gardening may reduce depression and anxiety s
Daylight Saving Time: Sleep Health & Tips
During spring, daylight saving time clocks go forward one hour at 2 a.m. jumping ahead to 3 a.m. With that jump in time, it has been found that, on average, people get 40 minutes less sleep the day after daylight saving time in March than any other day of...
How Important is Sleep to Mental Health
March 14 to 20th is Sleep Awareness Week. While many people know how important quality sleep is to our physical health, it is just as important to our mental health and wellbeing.
Improve Mental Health with Acts of Kindness
Acts of kindness not only benefit those in receipt of kind deeds but science has proven that there are astonishing health benefits for those performing those acts and, even to those simply witnessing acts of service.
Resolve to be Resilient in 2021
Resilience is the process of adapting quickly in the face of stressors. You may imagine resilience as the ability to not be harmed by challenges, but it’s more about responding to that stress, learning from it, and coming out stronger on the other side.
Is there a better way to make a New Year’s resolution?
A lot of New Year’s resolutions are about self-improvement. We set goals for weight loss, healthy eating, exercise, to stop smoking, or to improve finances. But this year, how about setting a resolution that will improve not just your life, but someone el...
Self-Compassion During the Holidays
The holiday season can bring joy and good times, but it can also bring stress and difficult situations.
The Magical Powers of Gratitude
Science shows that gratitude actually produces benefits for our bodies and brains.
How Building Resilience Helps Prevent Substance Use
Building resilience can help improve your life and happiness as well as reduce and prevent substance use in youth and adults. With all the research support for resilience, it is important to know what it is, how to strengthen it, and start practicing tod...
Suicide prevention in the time of COVID-19
Talk to just about anyone and you will hear of their scars from the COVID-19 health scare of 2020. The impacts are wide-ranging and extend into the domain of suicide risk and prevention, but there is hope to save a life, and we all have a part to play!
Protective Lifestyle Factors That Will Help You Live a Longer, Healthier Life
There are certain behaviors, protective lifestyle factors, you can do to live a longer, healthier life. By doing at least four of the protective lifestyle factors, these behaviors can reduce early onset of death from all-causes, cardiovascular disease, ca...
10 Tips to Improve Sleep
Studies show that adults need an average of 8 hours of sleep per night and teens need 9 to 10 hours of sleep per night. Unfortunately, as insomnia is on the rise a host of side complications are increasing in frequency such as depression, anxiety, weight ...
Connectedness and Self-care
While most of us are familiar with self-care activities like eating healthy foods, exercising or managing stress, an often overlooked form of self-care is social connection.
Rural Mental Health
According to Rural Health Info, there is a health disparity, or difference, between rural mental health and mental health in urban areas. This disparity does not always show up in the prevalence of mental health illnesses and suicide rates, but there is a...