Mental Health Awareness Month: ABC-7 focuses on Be Mindful stories every day
Everyone struggles with mental health in some shape or form — and during National Mental Health Awareness Month, ABC-7 will focus on building a culture of resiliency, reducing stigma, and improving wellness in the borderland every day with our Be Mindful initiative.
ABC-7 met with the National Alliance on Mental Illness of El Paso, or NAMI, to learn more on why the community thinks continuing to address mental health awareness is so important.
"One of the important reasons we have Mental Health Awareness Month is because of the stigma," says NAMI Executive Director Isidro Torres. "Stigma is the leading cause for people not seeking help because there's so many stereotypes, so many myths and misrepresentations of people living with mental health conditions,that it keeps people isolated."
Torres says 1 in 5 adults and 1 in 4 kids in the U.S. experience a mental health condition in any given year.
Not addressing mental health issues can impact your physical health, your relationships and even school or work life, according to Torres.
But he says El Paso has done a better job in creating awareness and reducing stigma.
"El Paso has become really resilient after August 3rd, after the pandemic, after the so many international national issues happening here in our community, so we've become resilient," Torres added. "So I think we started to talk about mental health a lot more, I would urge that we do a lot more work in action in making sure that people are getting access to the care that they need."
NAMI provides presentations at schools and has focused mostly on middle and high schoolers, saying "they know they're struggling and need this information."
One final message Torres sends to those who are afraid to seek help:
"We can't do it alone, you're not alone," says Torres. "We have a wonderful community here that is passionate and dedicated to bringing that awareness of mental health and helping people through their journey."
