Health Literacy Month | Alaska | Stellar Insight Counseling
Health Literacy Month | Alaska | Stellar Insight Counseling
This content is provided as general knowledge and may not be used as medical advice or treatment. If you notice ant changes to your health consult with your healthcare providers immediately.
This information may be used for general self-improvement purposes.
If you or someone you love is in crisis, contact the 988 Crisis Line.
The CDC (Center for Disease & Control) Defines Personal Health Literacy as:
“the degree to which individuals have the ability to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.”
Health literacy is one avenue towards health equity,
“the attainment of the highest level of health for all people.”
The premise of health equity promotes fair access to healthcare for all people regardless of race, gender, socioeconomic status, religion, disability status, or country of origin.
Health literacy is not a reflection on a client or patient.
Physicians (and other healthcare providers) can use confusing language or phrases that hold different meanings to different people.
One way to promote health literacy includes using plain language, which is information presented in an accessible and understandable manner (compared to “doctorspeak”).
Mental Health Literacy
As a mental health therapist, my emphasis lies with mental health literacy:
“knowledge and beliefs about mental disorders which aid their recognition, management or prevention”
(Sampaio, Gonçalves, & Sequeria, 2022).
This blog is one example of mental health literacy; I write about:
17 Regulation Activities for Adults
Perinatal and Postpartum Mental Health
Traumatic Brain Injury Awareness
and other coping skill related posts
Mental health literacy should not only emphasize mental health disorders (e.g., depression), but also ways to encourage positive mental health.
Maintaining or developing a “good” mental health takes work and not many people know what that looks like, or how to do it.
If you are interested in learning about how to promote mental health wellness, check out these blogs:
Habits that Promote Mental Health (At Any Age)
45 Regulation Activities for Adults (my most visited page on Google!)
5 Considerations When Seeking a New Therapist
7 Tips for Adults with ADHD/Autism
Improving positive mental health literacy can lead to an increase in mental well-being (Sampaio, Gonçalves, & Sequeria).
As a therapist, I encourage my clients to provide feedback on information I provide because as a human, I make mistakes and say things unclearly. I will ask, “did that make sense?” or, “should I try explaining that another way?”
It is okay for clients (or patients) to ask their doctor or therapist questions about their healthcare!
In spirit of October as Health Literacy Month,
How To Promote Positive Mental Health:
1. Maintain a Consistent Restful Sleep Routine
I’ve written about the Connection Between Sleep & Mental Health and how vital healthy sleep is to promote mental and physical well-being.
2. Practice Gratitude Daily
Journaling 5 moments of gratitude at the end of a day enhances mood and well-being.
3. Be Active for at Least 30-Minutes Each Day
We all know this one!
Being active can include chores such as vacuuming, mopping, laundry, moving furniture, gardening, painting a room – that all counts!
4. Exercise Your Brain
Learn new skills, hobbies, activities, or games at any age.
Practice new things like walking backwards (safely!), or standing on one leg with your eyes closed for as long as possible.
5. Go to Therapy
A mental health professional can help process difficult emotions from the past, help find new coping skills, or support increasing compassionate self-talk.
6. Accomplish Tasks or Goals
There are mental health benefits to accomplishing goals like completing a race, earning a degree, meeting a new milestone.
Not every day is a marathon; accomplishing small daily goals brings benefits too: maybe the goal is to heave a great skincare routine each night, wake up and practice yoga, tidy a room for 20-minutes each day; make it work for you!
7. Engage in Meaningful, Healthy Relationships
Mental health disorders like depression and PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) can push people into isolation.
Being proactively involved with friends, family, or the community can help promote a vital sense of belonging and connection (humans are social beings).
8. Channel Your “Flow” State as Often as Possible
I could not write about metal health promotion and ignore Positive Psychology.
Csikszentmihalyi’s “Flow” state is a theory which dictates a mental state where an individual is appropriately challenged, skilled, and finds enjoyment.
Musicians, skiers, surfers, athletes, and artists tend to be examples of people harnessing their flow state.
But anyone can find flow with a little introspection!
MENTAL HEALTH IMPACTS PHYSICAL HEALTH
&
PHYSICAL HEALTH IMPACTS MENTAL HEALTH
About the Author:
Nicole Zegiestowsky, M.S. (she/her)
Hello!
My name is Nicole and I am pre-licensed online therapist with a Master’s in Clinical Psychology from the University of Alaska, Anchorage.
If you live in Alaska and are seeking a new therapist, contact me today for a free 20-minute initial consultation call.
References:
Sampaio, F., Gonçalves, P., & Sequeira, C. (2022). Mental Health Literacy: It Is Now Time to Put Knowledge into Practice. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(12), 7030. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19127030
What is Health Literacy? CDC
https://www.cdc.gov/healthliteracy/learn/index.html#:~:text=Personal%20health%20literacy%20is%20the,actions%20for%20themselves%20and%20others.