EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — May is Mental Health Awareness Month and El Paso’s Emergence Health Network (EHN) will be hosting educational events throughout this month to celebrate. They kicked things off Saturday at the El Paso Zoo.
“Whenever you can, get outside with your family. It helps your mental health. Get some sunshine and just enjoy the outdoors,” said Noreen Jaramillo, communications director at EHN. .
But beyond that, Jaramillo said he wants to expand the conversation about mental health and wellness.
“We also want our community to use this opportunity to encourage conversations within families to say, ‘How are you doing? Maybe you look a little sad, maybe you don’t want to go out with your friends.’ “I want that conversation,” she said. “It’s a matter of awareness. And the first step to mental health awareness is to spark that conversation.”
ABC-7 is also working to start those kinds of conversations. Last year we launched our mental health campaign ‘Be Mindful’. We asked parents at Saturday’s event what it meant to them.
“Take care of me means taking care of your mental and physical health and striving to be healthy both physically and mentally,” said Maya Mwanza.
“Pay attention to how you feel and how others feel,” Austin Bake said.
But for some people, it can be difficult to bring up or bring up such conversations. Several El Pasoans offered tips on how to combat the stigma surrounding mental health.
“It’s about letting people know that it’s nothing to be ashamed of. If you have a family member or friend who suffers from a mental illness, you need to talk about it and deal with it,” Mwanza said.
“We just need to be more public and talk about how it’s a disease and not something wrong with it,” Bajc and his wife, Jacqueline, said.
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