Month of Mental Health - by Serah

Most people who live with mental health illness have, at some point, been blamed for their condition. They have been called names, not taken seriously, been told it’s just a ‘phase’ and much more. They have been discriminated against the rest of the society. This is the invincible power of stigma.

So, its mental health awareness month. It’s the special month where we encourage each other the open talk of mental health and normalize it. Well, we know that depression is real, anxiety happens and stress is normal. But it doesn’t stop there. We can do more. I think when we work towards spreading mental health awareness, we ought to be aware of some factors that could be leading to mental health problems and how to face them. All of us walk away with a name (Autism, OCD, PTSD etc.) and some understanding of its symptoms, but no idea of the list of factors that could be responsible for how and why this cascade of symptoms started.

Here’s a list of items I’d like everyone to look at this mental health awareness month.

- What you drink and eat everyday

- Your sleep patterns

- The media outlets you consume

- The air you breathe in

- The work environment you surround yourself

- The relationships you have and the kind of people you surround yourself with

- What you do the most time each day

- The way you treat yourself

- How you could be of service to others

I am so proud that Delhi Private School Sharjah, my alma mater is the first school in the United Arab Emirates to have MHEA established. MHEA has been established in DPS Sharjah as a Health and Mind Club that aims to focus on, spread awareness, and de-stigmatize mental health and related issues among the students. I hope everyone realizes that we still have a lot to learn about the causes of mental health, apart from diagnostic labels. During this month of mental health awareness, while we spread awareness, I hope each of us can focus on some of the above root causes leading to mental health issues.

That’s all from me for now.

Happy Mental Health Awareness Month!

Cheers,

Serah Prakkat

Serah13@uw.edu

Head of operations U.A.E - MHEA

Psychology major & Informatics minor + Intended Human Centered Design Engineering

University of Washington Seattle