Why I chose Mental Health

The topic that I chose was about mental health awareness. This is growing concerning the US and becoming a crisis. I am here to advocate for all the people who are struggling.  There is no age demographic, but I can say that over 61 million people in the US are struggling, I am targeting the people who are having a hard time finding providers who are accepting new patients. From experience I have felt very alone in this struggle of finding a provide. Some of the challenges my audience is dealing with is the initial trying to find help and the wanting to get help. A lot of the people struggling don’t admit it is an issue and they think that they can handle it. I have known this from my own experience. Once you admit it then you can find a provide which is a challenge due to the short staff in those areas. Some of the goals they are finding is that they are creating a plan to get better and a road to recovery that is healthy.  I always encourage people to talk about their interests and how they can use that to cope, such as running, walking, working out or doing a sport. They would find it easy to use and an open discussion to help navigate through the process. This could be a group of people just talking about their feelings that might make a difference in someone’s struggle. If there was a place to maintain confidentiality and the power to talk to all the people, they would be able to help in many ways. I think it would also be valuable to have a website that can direct people to providers and doctors that are willing to help and just give them a list of referrals. Sometimes finding where to go is an even bigger stress.  If I had to guess an age range, I would focus more on 17-26 because often these people are forgotten that they are struggling and they are going through major life changes and events. The needs they are trying to meet are to be heard and to know that the way they are feeling won’t last forever and that it is okay to be not okay.  I will create a website with our local area providers that accepts new patients and there are a few that are based elsewhere but allowing virtual visits. If that information is on an easy-to-use website, it may help change people’s lives significantly. This will matter because they are finally feeling seen and heard and knowing that they are going to start to feel okay again. With that being said it would create less of a crisis if they knew where to go. It will help take some weigh off of the people struggling and the providers trying to schedule everyone they can. This will help achieve the people struggling  meet the goals of staying another day and working towards a healthy lifestyle and create a better living environment.