Men’s Mental Health: Breaking the Stigma

June is Men’s Mental Health Month

Guest post by Jorge Caraballo, MS, NCC, LCMHC-A, LCAS-A
SouthLight Counselor – DBT

Men need to begin working on their mental health to live more fulfilling and balanced lives.

There is a stigma about men having to seek mental health services as being weak, but I say that it is a strength to work on our mental health and achieving a higher connection with ourselves and our goals.

Sound Body leads to a Sound Mind. Take care of your body: that means adequate sleep, exercise and nutrition. A healthy body will help create a healthy mind.

Communicate your needs. Guess what–men have emotions too, despite what you may have been taught growing up. Men need to learn to communicate how they feel about things and in doing so, learn to identify our emotions, because naming our emotions can help lead us to appropriate action.

Managing stress and our expectations. Sometimes the expectations we place on ourselves is a lot higher than the ones we place on others, and feeling that everything falls on you just adds to the stress. Taking a step back and recognizing our expectations and our stress levels will help coordinate when to lay off the gas pedal and when to pick up speed.

Hobbies and Fun – Take the time to enjoy a leisure activity that help engage us in our passions or with those around us. Learning a new skill, new information, or experiences helps break the routine of going to work and home, and also helps decrease Mental Health symptoms of depression and anxiety, the two most common mental health illnesses. Hit the pause button and get involved in something that helps you reset or express yourself.

Have you been feeling irritable, grump, unfulfilled, or bored majority of the time? Well, odds are we have not been following or keeping an eye on the four steps listed above. Your life does not need to crumble or have to go through a crisis to seek out mental health services.

Therapy is just as beneficial for those wanting to improve, get ahead, learn more about themselves, or limit the risk of past behaviors impacting their future.

Southlight, one of the area’s largest nonprofit providers of both mental health and substance use services, is welcoming new clients via telehealth during this pandemic. Jorge is one of several counselors that see patients with commercial insurance through our Barrett Drive office.