Each year the month of May is recognized as Mental Health Awareness Month. During the next four weeks, Pitt Partners for Health will provide information that will help Pitt County citizens better understand mental wellness and illness.
Let’s start with mental wellness. A key aspect of mental wellness is resilience. That’s not a term we often hear, but we all have it. Resilience is the ability to bounce back after hardship, tragedy, grief and other “tough times.” It is also the ability to cope with those “tough times” as they happen.
Resilience is like the wind. We do not see it, but see how it moves us forward, sometimes in ways we do not understand, during and after unthinkable events occur. It helps us to calm our bodies. It gives us the strength to move past the hurts and pains. It helps us get out of bed when we don’t want to face the day. It helps us live life, as difficult as it seems at the time.
As stated, everyone has resilience, some more than others. The good news is that a person can build resilience. How? As an individual, you can learn and practice resiliency skills. An excellent source to help you is Resources for Resilience© (https://resourcesforresilience.com/). This organization offers workshops to help you build healthy relationships and develop coping skills to calm the body and the mind.
Building resilience is also the responsibility of the community. The community – people, agencies, organizations – provides help for families, enabling them to cope with their struggles. This support can be as simple as kind words, meals given or time spent together. It is every agency and individual in the community using their talents, skills and resources to help lift up everyone. We become a resilient community.
From these ideas, the community group BRACE (Building Resilience and Courage to Excel) was formed. Members of this group include, but are not limited to, workers in public schools, public health, law enforcement, social services, mental health, child care, physicians’ offices and ECU. BRACE unites voices to bring about a more compassionate, caring and resilient community. One way is to provide Reconnect for Resilience© workshops. Watch for them!
For more information about BRACE, contact Kia Glosson at GlossonK15@ecu.edu.
Authors:
Kia Glosson
Community Educator
TEDI BEAR Children’s Advocacy Center
Erin Ness Roberts, PhD, LMFT
Clinic Director
ECU Family Therapy Clinic
Jennifer Matthews, PhD
Professor
Department of Health Education and Promotion
East Carolina University
Pitt Partners for Health (PPH) is a community health improvement partnership with representatives from local churches, businesses, communities, the hospital, health department and other human service agencies. The partnership mission is to improve the population health of Pitt County through coalition building and partnership. PPH meets on the 2nd Thursday of each month in community locations throughout the county. If you have questions or for more information, please contact Tiera Beale (tiera.beale@vidanthealth.com)