The month of May is recognized as “Mental Health Awareness Month.” Mental Health Awareness Month has been observed in the United States every May since 1949. The observance is initiated by Mental Health America to help reduce stigma, educate the public, and advocate for better care.
Senior Life Solutions is an outpatient care program at Callaway District Hospital designed to meet the unique needs of older adults who may be battling mental health issues. Kelly Herbig, who serves as program director for Senior Life Solutions, visited recently with KCNI/KBBN about the program and how it will be recognizing May as Mental Health Awareness Month.
“Mental Health Awareness Month has been actually going on since 1949. It started out as a week and then became a month. But our program is set up for the needs of older adults, usually 65 and over, that are dealing with issues with aging or past traumas that they haven’t had a place to share them or felt comfortable sharing them. But Mental Health Awareness Month, we always take the opportunity to kind of hit all age groups in all areas. So, we do a lot of things in the community and volunteering and talking to different groups and different age groups to kind of go outside of the box for what we normally do.”
It can be difficult to approach someone regarding their mental health. Herbig said one of the keys is to show concern and to provide a platform and safe place to talk about how one is feeling.
“It is difficult to talk about mental health if you are not comfortable with it. And myself, when we started the program, I had to attain a comfort level myself before I could. But it comes down to showing concern and patience and giving somebody a platform and a safe place to talk about how they’re feeling, listening without judgment. And some people, when they’re either unwilling or having a hard time reaching out for help, reminding them that if they had uncontrolled diabetes or uncontrolled blood pressure or they broke their leg, they would be getting help for that. They would see their doctor for that. And they need to approach this in the same way.”
Herbig said the program will be playing off the honeybee during the month of May because “Anyone who thinks they’re too small to make a difference has never met a honeybee.”
To find out more about the Senior Life Solutions program visit www.callawayhospital.org.
