May is Mental Health Awareness Month: Take action to prioritize your mental well-being!

Now is the perfect time to remember that your mental health is just as important as your physical health. Similar to when you catch a cold or the flu and seek remedies to feel better, you should consider seeking support for your mental well-being when you need a boost.

Mental well-being and your circumstances

Everyone faces mental health challenges at some point in life. Maybe you’re stressed about your child’s progress in school and lose sleep over what to do. Or maybe you’re recovering from an illness or injury and find it difficult to stay positive. Your experiences and environment affect your mental health and can influence how you respond to situations. The state of your mental well-being is unique to your circumstances. Addressing how you feel often involves a combination of self-care, social support, and, when necessary, receiving help from a counselor.

What are you feeling?

To help gauge where you’re at, the Mental Health Action Network offers a continuum of experiences, shared here with permission:

Thriving: This is where you want to be on the continuum: you’re feeling good, balanced and able to cope with the challenges that come your way through work, school, or relationships.

Managing: At this point on the continuum, you’re having to do some work to keep things balanced, cope in healthy ways and meet the demands of work, school, or home life. But, overall, you’re making it work.

Struggling: Your emotional struggles are impacting work, school, or relationships. While your instinct might be to just suck it up and push through, it’s important to acknowledge you’re struggling, find ways to take care of yourself and reach out for help if needed.

Distressed. Mental health challenges are really interfering with your quality of life and ability to get things done. You may be struggling with untreated mental health conditions like depression or anxiety disorder and it’s critical to reach out for help before things get worse. Crisis situations require a call to 911 or 988 for immediate support.

Crisis: If you’re in crisis, call 911 or 988 immediately for support.

Take action to seek help

No matter where you are on the continuum, taking action to care for your mental health can lead to a happier, more fulfilling life. To schedule a confidential appointment with a Best Care EAP counselor, simply fill out the confidential counseling registration form. If you have questions, call our office at (402) 354-8000 or (800) 801-4182, and we’ll be glad to help. Remember, your eligible dependents may also visit with Best Care EAP counselors.

Additional resources

Best Care EAP's Resource Hub offers a wide range of on-demand content to help you manage stress, anxiety, conflict, and more. Log in with your company ID and password to access these valuable resources. You may also find this short video helpful as it relates to this article.