National Mental Health Awareness Month
May is National Mental Health Awareness Month. But for so many of us, this very personal and critical issue is part of our everyday lives.
Our culture as a whole has made great strides in breaking down the stigmas typically associated with mental health by having honest conversations about our individual challenges. But while talking is a significant first step, it’s equally as important for everyone to have access to tangible resources for prevention and support.
The MC team has put together some of the books, websites, training programs, podcasts, and organizations we turn to in our daily lives, whether we’re working on building emotional skills like resilience and compassion, or struggling to navigate the challenges of stress, anxiety, and depression.
We hope you find these resources helpful and would love to know about any others that have been beneficial in your own life.
Week 1
Day #1: Ten Percent Happier
Ten Percent Happier is an app offering guided meditations and practical teachings you can carry anywhere, with courses on stress, relationships, communication, and more. Download the app or follow along on their podcast.
Day 2: Radical Compassion
Build your emotional and professional soft skills with this book from Tara Brach titled, Radical Compassion: Learning to Love Yourself and Your World with the Practice of RAIN.
Day 3: You Belong, by Sebene Selassie
“We are not separate from each other. But we don’t always believe it, and we certainly don’t always practice it. In fact, we often practice the opposite—disconnection and domination.” You Belong is a wonderful book on reclaiming the connection between all of us.
Day 4: Hurry Slowly podcast
Hurry Slowly is a podcast — hosted by Jocelyn K. Glei — about how pacing yourself is the key to avoiding burnout, improving your productivity, and activating your creative mind.
Pushing back against the conventional wisdom that “busy is better,” Hurry Slowly explores how we make smarter decisions, feel more comfortable taking risks, and manage our attention more intelligently when we learn to take our time.
Day 5: To Write Love on Her Arms
A nonprofit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury, and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire, and invest directly into treatment and recovery.
Week 2
Day 6: Headspace App
Meditation and mindfulness for any mind, any mood, any goal. Headspace has one mission: to improve the health and happiness of the world.
Day 7: Sounds True Training
Training for all areas of mental health, wellbeing, and mindfulness. Sounds True has created the world’s largest living library of transformational teachings that support and accelerate spiritual awakening and personal transformation
Day 8: Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction 8-Week Online Course
Learn MBSR, the most scientifically tested and well-established mindfulness training program. Reduce stress and live with greater ease through this tested and well-established mindfulness meditation program. This online program is an 8 week live instructor-led sessions.
Day 9: National Alliance on Mental Health
NAMI provides advocacy, education, support and public awareness so that all individuals and families affected by mental illness can build better lives.
Day 10: Stanford’s “Touchy Feely” Course
How to take their relationships from shallow to exceptional by cultivating authenticity, vulnerability, and honesty, while being willing to ask for and offer help, share a commitment to growth, and deal productively with conflict.
Week 3
Day 11: The Metta Hour with Sharon Salzberg
The Metta Hour Podcast is Sharon’s podcast that brings Buddhist wisdom to everyday life in a practical, common sense vernacular. From everyday experiences to pithy revelations, each podcast is a journey on the path of self-discovery led by Sharon.
Day 12: A Fierce Heart by Spring Washam
Anyone who has suffered will benefit from the life-saving teachings of this charismatic teacher. Her humor, enthusiasm, and energy are a balm.
Day 13: RESET course
RESET is a four-week course created by Jocelyn K. Glei that shows you how to work in a way that is intentional, energizing, and inspiring.
Day 14: This is My Brave
The mission of This Is My Brave is to empower individuals to put their names and faces on their true stories of recovery from mental illness and addiction.
Day 15: The Depression Project
Finally understand your depression; know exactly how to get better; and have an easy way to explain your depression to get the support you need.
Week 4
Day 16: The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer
What would it be like to free yourself from limitations and soar beyond your boundaries? What can you do each day to discover inner peace and serenity?
Day 17: Center for Compassionate Leadership
Center for Compassionate Leadership is to advance compassionate methods of leadership by integrating best practices of modern leadership, evidence-based science, and contemplative wisdom.
Day 18: Mental Health America
Mental Health America (MHA)’s work is driven by its commitment to promote mental health as a critical part of overall wellness, including prevention services for all.
Day 19: The Self Compassion Workbook
Are you a perfectionist? Do you have a tough time quieting your inner critic? It can be easy to fall into patterns of self-criticism when we feel uncertain―but self compassion is about building a new mindset, embracing the moment, and letting go of the responsibility to handle every obstacle. This workbook is packed with an array of exercises and strategies designed to ground yourself in self compassion and confidently build the life that you want.
Day 20: The Alcohol Experiment
An effortless way to interrupt your patterns, restore your health and get back in touch with the version of yourself that didn’t need alcohol to relax or enjoy life.
Join thousands of others in this inspiring, hopeful, and exciting challenge where you examine your beliefs and reconnect with the best version of you without ever feeling like you are missing out.
Media Cause aims to provide every employee with the resources, benefits, policies, and peer support systems we need to care for our whole selves—and to flourish—both inside and outside our workplace. Learn more about our culture and check out our open positions.