She Connects: 50 Shades of Health Awareness

If you ask the average citizen to define the word “wellness”, they may associate it with a person’s physical or nutritional well-being, and although they aren’t completely wrong, they do not have a understanding of what the word wellness means to in its entirety.

According to the American Heritage Medical Dictionary, Wellness is “the condition of good physical, mental and emotional health, especially when maintained by an appropriate diet, exercise, and other lifestyle modifications.”

Despite being serious in nature, mental health is generally overshadowed in society. Many people will write off symptoms as the victim being “overdramatic” or “a hypochondriac”, and many more don’t even recognize mental health as a real issue.

But according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, “nearly 44 million adults experience mental illnesses in a given year”.

The first week of October (Oct.4-10) is Mental Illness Awareness Week, and in honor of the week I want to introduce you to a powerful campaign that is at the heart of this week.

#IAmStigmaFree is an initiative coined by the National Alliance on Mental Illness that promotes mental health education, “seeing the person not the illness”, and taking action against mental illness.

But it doesn’t stop there.

By pledging to be stigmafree, you will be a member of a movement to turn stigma into hope.

You will begin to challenge social stereotypes, become educated on what it means to be mentally ill, and encourage others to become aware that mental illness is equally important to other illnesses.

If you interested in Mental Illness Awareness Week or the #IAmStigmaFree campaign, visit: https://www.nami.org/miaw

XOXO,

Nadya