Mental Health Awareness Month

Celebrating Mental Health Awareness Month and Save the Date(s)!

Dear Village,

While year round we focus on raising awareness, May is Mental Health Awareness Month, a month set aside reminding us to pause and reflect on ways we can help one another. We hope you've been able to focus on your self-care and wellbeing as it is so important. We also want to take a moment to say thank you. With your support and resources enabling Sarah's Village Foundation to make an impact, we're pleased to share the many projects taking place this month to benefit young people in our communities.

To kick off the month, we participated in Oliver Ames' Day of Kindness on May 1 and joined a group of seniors rolling up their sleeves to volunteer at Langwater Farm. At Easton Middle School, we are supporting their community's Mental Health Awareness Month efforts by supplying students with 100 "Mental Health Matters" t-shirts (designed by fellow students!), green ribbons and bracelets to promote awareness, and presenting gift cards to the annual Poster Contest winners, where students submit artistic representations on mental health. Over at Norton Middle School, we are funding similar mental health awareness month activities through the end of May, including designing t-shirts, hosting a poster contest, and providing a wide array of items to promote awareness including stickers, key chains, sensory stickers and more!

We continue to work closely with the Easton and Norton school communities on continued partnership and are excited to share with you in the months ahead the impact made from a 50% increase in grant support to both towns.

Though we might not physically be in the room to see the great impact in schools, there are so many valuable resources to learn from to support yourself and those close to you. See below for helpful information and tips and you navigate Mental Health Awareness Month and beyond.

Cynthia, Mark, Thomas and Mollie

Founding Members, Sarah's Village Foundation

P.S. See below details to mark your calendars for the annual Sarah's Village Day events coming up later this year!

In and Around the Community

On April 3, the SVF board of directors attended the third annual KyleCares conference, bringing together over 600 students from over 36 schools across the region. As the organization says, "this is more than just an event; it’s a critical movement for systemic mental health change, led by students for their peers."

We heard from rockstar presenters on why mental health matters and what they're doing to help, including Andre Tippett, executive director of external affairs for the Patriots Foundation and Patriots Hall of Famer, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy, Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel, and several exceptional student panelists.

SVF was proud to play a small role in the mental health conference by sponsoring the keynote speaker, Donovan Taylor Hall, specializing in youth empowerment and dedicated to spreading the message, "Kids who feel better do better".

On April 30, Mark and Cynthia joined Josh of Dirty Hands Project in his Hike for a Change journey, a 23-day expedition on the Bay Circuit Trail to raise awareness for mental health in response to losing their son, Ty to suicide at the age of 18. Together, the three hiked 7 miles, shared stories, and promoted mental and physical health and wellbeing to their networks.

Thank you, Josh for allowing us to join your journey!

Helpful Resources

Feel Joy Now:

Joy doesn’t have to be huge or loud. It can be quiet, creative, or unexpected — as long as it feels real to you, as JED Foundation shares. These practices are here to help notice joy when it shows up and make space for more of it.

Joy Jotting: Write down one thing that brought you joy today. Train your brain to notice what feels good.
Play Your Mood Up: Create a feel-good playlist and let it move you -- whether that's dancing, vibing, or just closing your eyes and taking it in.
Create Without a Goal: Doodle. Try something just because it feels good. Creativity is joy in motion.

Building Healing and Resilience:

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) is focused on resilience and healing this month. To hear more stories of resilience and share yours, click here.

A few tips below can get you started:

Find Ways to Connect: Connecting with others in any way can help strengthen your resilience and restore balance to your thoughts. Set up plans with friends who make you feel good and comfortable sharing your thoughts with.
Ask for Help and Accepting Support: It’s not always easy to ask for help when you need it, but it’s so important! Write down in advance who you can reach out to when you need support.
Recognize Your Needs: Setting healthy, reasonable boundaries is crucial for supporting your resilience. Notice what fills you up and what drains you and express your needs about time and space clearly.
Navigate Challenges: It’s okay not to feel okay all the time. Recognize that there are seasons in life. Stay grounded and remind yourself that there are good seasons and know the harder ones don’t last forever.
Focus on the Physical: Pay attention to changes in your sleep patterns and stress levels. Aid your emotional resilience by eating healthily and nutritiously.

Save the Dates!