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Increasing Mental Health Awareness in May

Written by Barb Fanning, Director of Business Development, Haven Behavioral Healthcare

Mental Health Awareness Month creates a great reminder of just how important it is for all of us to take time to focus on our own mental, emotional, and social well-being. As a mental health provider, Haven Behavioral Hospital of Phoenix finds it very important that for us to best care for our patients, we ourselves need to be at our best. Here are some of the ways that we do this and some resources for you to use as well:

  • The Haven Leadership Team starts our daily meetings off by recognizing our “Wins & Wows” to acknowledge staff’s efforts from the prior day and to thank them for their hard work.
  • Our Leadership Team is also dedicated to motivating our staff to practice proper self-care: including maintaining a work-life balance, using benefits (such as PTO) when it’s appropriate, and finding ways to distress at the end of the day. Late last year, we hosted a “Self-Care Fair” offering resources for continued education and relaxation tactics and aromatherapy. We are committed to continuing these activities periodically throughout the year.
  • We are working on bringing in speakers who can share their experiences of overcoming adversity by keeping a healthy mentality. The National Alliance on Mental Illness’ (NAMI’s) “In our Own Voice” series is a great one that comes to mind, and it is at no-cost to you!
  • We are currently in the process of revamping our Employee Recognition Program to ensure that staff are appreciated and rewarded for their dedication to our hospital.
  • We have also just recently incorporated a hospital-wide training based on the best-selling book by Susan David, PhD., titled Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change, and Thrive in Work and Life. The book defines “emotional agility” as a process that allows us to change or maintain our behaviors in ways that align with our intentions and values.

According to Mental Health America (MHA)—the organization that originated Mental Health Awareness Month—a quarter to a third of our lives are spent at work, which makes being happy at work vital to overall happiness in life. MHA has created two separate resources to help employers promote mental health among their workforce:

NAMI has also created their own resource manual:

We at Haven hope this information is helpful and would like to wish you a happy and healthy Mental Health Awareness Month!