Mental Health Is for Everyone: Kicking Off Mental Health Awareness Month with Connection and Care
đź’¬ We Were Made for Connection
At Sunday’s Resilience Across Borders 3rd Annual free networking Mix and Mingle event, I was reminded of how much connection matters. The energy was vibrant, the conversations heartfelt, and the support—for youth and one another—was palpable.
We laughed, shared stories, and raffled off books donated by generous authors. But most importantly, we practiced something that’s at the core of our mental health: being present for one another.
🌱 Everyday Actions Matter
While I’m not a mental health professional, I’ve spent more than 20 years in education working with youth and families across beautifully diverse communities—urban, rural, multilingual, multiracial. What I’ve learned over and over is this: mental health is everyone’s concern.
It’s not just about having access to therapy (though that matters deeply). It’s about how we show up for ourselves and each other, every day. And the science backs this up:
- Social connection protects against stress and depression.
- Consistent routines help regulate emotions and promote resilience.
- Empathy and validation support emotional healing in both young people and adults.
🧠Mental Health Awareness Month: Why It Matters
Over this Mental Health Awareness month, you’ll see campaigns and hashtags—and that’s important. But real change happens in our everyday choices: the texts we send, the time we take, the ways we listen.
At Resilience Across Borders, we work to ensure that mental health care for youth isn’t something only available to those who can afford it or live in the “right” neighborhoods. But we also know that care doesn’t start and end in a therapist’s office.
It starts with you. With us.
đź’š How You Can Support Mental Health in Everyday Life
You don’t need special credentials to support someone’s mental well-being. Here are five simple, research-backed ways to care for others right now:
- Reach out first. A quick “thinking of you” message can mean the world to someone having a hard day.
- Make space for real conversation. Be a listener, not a fixer. Your presence might be more helpful than advice.
- Share tools and resources. You never know who might need a mental health hotline, app, or community center—and doesn’t know where to look.
- Talk about mental health openly. The more we name it, the less stigma it carries.
- Model rest and boundaries. When others see you care for your own mental health, it signals that they can, too.
These are small things—but they are not insignificant. They’re the foundation of a culture that values mental wellness for everyone.
🌍 Building a More Equitable Future, Together
We’re proud that our networking event brought in a record-breaking number of new supporters and familiar friends. That community energy fuels the work we do to ensure youth from under-resourced communities receive the support they deserve.
Mental health shouldn’t be determined by your zip code, income, or identity. And we believe that together, we can change that.
So this month, I’m making a personal commitment to reach out more intentionally—to ask deeper questions, to check-in with the people I care about, and to show up with more presence in the small, everyday moments.
Because connection isn’t just something we talk about at events. It’s something we build, moment by moment, choice by choice.
Will you join me?
Let’s make Mental Health Awareness Month not just a campaign, but a practice—one rooted in compassion, equity, and the belief that we all have a role to play.
In care and community,
Laura S. Yee Breeding, PhD
Executive Director
Resilience Across Borders, Inc.