A newsletter from Johnson County Mental Health Center
Mental health days – we're a big fan of them. Students are demanding them (and in some places like Denver, actually getting them). Workplaces are touting them as part of their benefits packages. We're here to tell you it's time to take one. You may take a mental health day if you feel like you have poor or bad mental health or to mitigate worsening mental health. It's a day where you minimize commitments by taking a day off from school or work and ultimately lessening your responsibilities to focus on your mental fitness. Some goals for a mental health day could be relaxing, relieving stress, having fun, and preventing burnout. You deserve rest, and permitting yourself to rest without any expectations can be a radical form of self-care.
So, how do you make the most out of a mental health day?
Plan ahead of time (if you can). Look for patterns in your calendar that are less busy and take the day off. It may feel strange to take a whole day off for your mental health but sometimes the most productive thing you can do is rest.
Spend time thinking about what you need to feel replenished. While we get the appeal of scrolling through social and binge-watching shows during downtime think about what will fill your cup. Is it moving your body, seeing a matinee, finishing a book that you just never get enough time to read or perhaps it’s spending the day in bed (AKAbed rotting)?
Let people know you're out. This could look like giving your people (peers, colleagues, your supervisor, etc.) a heads up, setting an out-of-office message, setting your phone to Do Not Disturb, and giving yourself permission to not respond.
Remember four to one. Dr. Kristin Francis, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Utah’s Huntsman Mental Health Institute recommends a four-to-one ratio of fun things to getting things done. Getting one thing off of your to-do list will give you satisfaction and help you feel productive. Spend the remainder of your day doing things you enjoy. It will help you to revive.
Between our personal and professional lives, summer coming to an end(which we're dreading, tbh), heading back to school, and simply everything going on in the world right now, there's always something going on. It's easy to push through, but it's integral that we don't, that we take the time to look within and ask ourselves if we need to stop and rest.
If you're looking for a sign that you take the day off: this is it. When we take care of ourselves, we're better people. Better friends, better co-workers, better parents and partners, and better altogether. So, how about you request that day off? Maybe it's time to finally take it.
Mental Health First Aid is an interactive 8-hour course that presents an overview of mental illness and substance use disorders in the U.S. and introduces participants to risk factors and warning signs of mental health problems, builds an understanding of their impact, and overviews common treatments.
Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) is for caregivers who want to feel more comfortable, confident and competent in helping to prevent the immediate risk of suicide. ASIST is a resource for the whole community. It helps people apply suicide first-aid in many settings: with family, friends, co-workers, teammates and formal caregiving roles.
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