National Mental Health Counseling Week
May 10th, 2009
A GoodTherapy.org News Update
To the casual observer, it can seem like just about everything has its own dedicated “national time slot” these days, beckoning Americans to celebrate everything from frozen foods to pirate-speak and back again. But while plenty of modern awareness-centered holidays are indeed whimsical, a few speak to more serious issues, and National Mental Health Counseling Week is certainly among them. Taking place from the fifth through the twelfth, the special week has been created to help bolster the role of counseling in America’s communities and to work towards washing away the stigmas still attached to mental health care in many areas.
An informal affair that’s not likely to find a special section in the greeting cards department, the week-long holiday is nevertheless an important calendar highlight for professionals around the country, as well as those touched by their work. Many areas are celebrating in ways that reflect local interactions with psychotherapy and counseling. In Laconia, New Hampshire, area schools are taking a time-out to acknowledge and honor school nurses, many of whom serve as counselors and interact with childrens’ mental health on a daily basis. The nurses are subject to special accolades as National Nurse Week coincides with Mental Health Counseling Week.
In the eastern town of Meridian, Mississippi, organizers are focusing on the ability of mental health counseling and psychotherapy to aid in the suffering of senior citizens, who are finding increasing opportunities to seek professional help. On the other end of the age spectrum, children in Tampa Bay, Florida, and their loved ones can experience the ability of psychotherapy to empower lives even in their earliest stages with free youth mental health screens. Though the week might not stir up quite as much publicity as National Talk Like a Pirate Day, its power to inspire and enlighten communities certainly something to celebrate.
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Comments
It’s great to see Tampa Bay, Florida giving free health screens to young adults. I think there needs to be a day dedicated to therapists who help individuals with their needs.
Yay! Finally recognition in a good way! Well deserved
Free mental health screenings? That is a great idea, something that I really think college campuses would be a perfect starting ground for.
Mental health issues have been pushed under the rug for way too long. It is about time that it is being given the recognition that it deserves so that hopefully more people who suffer from mental health issues can get the treatment that they need without feeling ashamed of seeking it out.
It concerns me that there continues to be such a taboo about raising the subject of mental illness, that people are still ashamed to admit when they are having a problem. No wonder. People make you feel like a freak when you consider asking for help. They tell you to ask but then talk about you behind your back for doing so. If we are really going to get past all of that there is going to be the need for a lot more people opening their eyes to the seriousness of this issue and making the committment to help others when they are in those times of crisis and need help the most.
Maybe people would turn to help if it wasn’t for others downing them. Just as Allison said. At least theres a school trying to help.
A school who is finally trying to help students. Wish more would do this.
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