by Nick Hanzel-Snider

MindWise Innovations announces its efforts to commemorate Mental Health Awareness Month (MHAM), offering free resources and information all through May. In addition to promoting free access to this month’s “Behavioral Health Beat” – an annual subscription of monthly emails and 24/7 access to new, shareable, expert content for teams and employees – MindWise, a service of the nonprofit Riverside Community Care, will grant open access to its mental health and substance use screening platform. Given the additional stresses we’ve all been experiencing during the pandemic, now more than ever it’s vital to take stock of our behavioral health and practice appropriate self-care.

“We want to make it clear that there’s nothing bad about struggling with your behavioral health – it’s not a moral issue,” says MindWise Director of Behavioral Health Consulting Lisa Desai, Psy.D. “Mental Health Awareness Month is as much about elevating the voices of those folks who are living full, happy, productive lives while managing their mental health condition as it is about acknowledging the difficult path that some must take to get there.” In fact, experiencing a behavioral health disorder is more common than not, with more than half of all Americans doing so in their lifetime according to the Centers for Disease Control.

To kick off MHAM, MindWise is participating in a special virtual event on “Minds After Covid,” presented by the non-profit organization Parents-to-Parents. Dr. Desai will join other esteemed panelists including former director of the National Institute of Mental Health Tom Insel; former Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Mental Health and Substance Use Elinore McCance-Katz; and advocate, psychologist, writer, and viral TED-Talker Guy Winch. The free event will livestream on Facebook and YouTube and focus on how to recover from the behavioral health impacts of COVID-19 with stronger supports for mental health and substance issues than we had before.

Throughout MHAM, individuals and organizations can take any of MindWise’s 14 online behavioral health screenings to check-in on their mental health and/or substance use. While informational rather than diagnostic in nature, the brief, anonymous screens provide an opportunity to evaluate if you or someone you care about should connect with a behavioral health professional on issues including depression, anxiety, disordered eating, substance use, and more. In addition to free access to screenings and “Behavioral Health Beat” content, MindWise will be sharing self-care tips, professional advice, and other resources throughout May in blogs and on social media.

“Awareness and education are imperatives,” says MindWise Senior Vice President Bryan Kohl. “We’re passionate about mental health and what better chance than MHAM to share our tools and resources to help spread awareness and hopefully make a positive difference in people’s lives.”