Celebrating Nurses and Mental Health Awareness Month

If you are a nurse, thank yourself and your colleagues for the compassionate care and service you provide to others!

If you know a nurse, remember to thank them for being there for you their compassion and their care!

Nurses are the Heart of Healthcare

“When you are a Nurse, you know that everyday you will touch a life or a life will touch yours” - anonymous

National Nurses Week is a time for everyone

– individuals, employers, other health care professionals, community leaders, and nurses –

to recognize and thank the vast contributions and positive impact of America’s 4 million registered nurses.

Each year, the celebration ends on May 12, Florence Nightingale's birthday.

Did you also know…

Mental Health America (MHA) has chosen the theme this year of #4Mind4Body to raise awareness about the connection between physical health and mental health - Mental health is essential to everyone’s overall health and well-being, and mental illnesses are common and treatable. So much of what we do physically impacts us mentally – it’s important to pay attention to both your physical health and your mental health, which can help you achieve overall wellness.

MHA is exploring the topics of animal companionship, spirituality and religion, humor, work-life balance, and recreation and social connections as ways to boost mental health and general wellness. A healthy lifestyle can help to prevent the onset or worsening of mental health conditions, as well as chronic conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. It can also help people recover from these conditions. For those dealing with a chronic health condition and the people who care for them, it can be especially important to focus on mental health. When dealing with dueling diagnoses, focusing on both physical and mental health concerns can be daunting – but critically important in achieving overall wellness.

There are things you can do that may help. Finding a reason to laugh, going for a walk with a friend, meditating, playing with a pet, all can go a long way in making you both physically and mentally healthy. The company of animals – whether as pets or service animals— can have a profound impact on a person’s quality of life and ability to recover from illnesses. A pet can be a source of comfort and can help us to live mentally healthier lives. And whether you go to church, meditate daily, or simply find time to enjoy that cup of tea each morning while checking in with yourself – it can be important to connect with your spiritual side in order to find that mind-body connection.

Mental illnesses are real, and recovery is always the goal. Living a healthy lifestyle may not be easy but can be achieved by gradually making small changes and building on those successes. Finding the balance between work and play, the ups and downs of life, physical health and mental health, can help you on the path towards focusing both #4Mind4Body.

As Nurses, it is vitally important to find balance in our physical and mental health to meet the demands of our care for others. Here is a great resource for you to be mindful of making small changes in your daily life to promote physical and mental well being to maintain your energy stores during the month of May!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE MHM 2019 CALENDAR POSTER

For more information please visit www.mentalhealthamerica.net/may

If you’d like an accountability partner to work with to find and maintain a healthier level of mental and physical well being, I would welcome the opportunity to be that partner! Click here to access my calendar and let’s connect!