Mental Health Awareness Month

May is Mental Health Awareness Month and it is especially important this year to be cognizant of how we are feeling and coping due to COVID-19. A worldwide pandemic has, as expected, increased stress and anxiety levels, as well as made a major dent in overall mental health wellness due to social isolation, illness or loss of loved ones, loss of jobs or decreased work hours, and the trauma that comes with experiencing an illness with no clear treatment or prevention method.

I was recently asked by My Brother’s Keeper Alliance of South Carolina (based in Spartanburg County) to participate in a Youth Talk Series panel for mental health awareness month. To view the Youth Talk Series (which I highly recommend!), you can go to the following link on YouTube: https://bit.ly/MBKYouthTalkOnMentalHealth

The focus of my participation on the panel was to acknowledge, address, and discuss the intersection of mental health, COVID-19, trauma (and re-traumatization due to this pandemic), and presence of a disability (whether that disability was solely mental health or a variety of diagnoses). I created a Venn Diagram to provide a visual of what an individual may experience with an overlap of any, and all, of the four compounding factors. The text is lengthy on the visual provided below, so I will provide a brief image description, however for a PDF version (that is voice over friendly), please email me and I will provide to you.

The star in the middle of the Venn Diagram highlights the intersection of all four of these topics; which is a place that many people are finding themselves currently. Managing previous/current trauma, negatively impacted mental health, and the presence of one or more disabilities during a pandemic is difficult and overwhelming.

I wanted to share the diagram here, along with some resources that I have found to be helpful. I want to be transparent that this Venn Diagram does not take into account other specific factors that can have a significant impact on mental health, during this time and in general. Individuals who identify as LGBTQ+ and BIPOC have additional and specific mental health impacts that are not represented on this diagram; but need to be acknowledged and understood.

I personally find that it is disheartening and unhelpful to bring up a problem or an issue without some possible resources to combat them. For this reason, I have done some research and have found two (free) apps that I would recommend anyone check out to address the overwhelming feelings they may be experiencing during this time. Both apps are available in either Google Play store or iTunes, and are very user-friendly. The apps are called Clear Fear and Calm Harm, and I will provide some detail about both below to give an idea of how they work and how they can help address overwhelming feelings of anxiety, stress, panic attacks, and overwhelming emotions that could (but don’t always) result in self-harm. As a disclaimer, none of these apps are to be used in place of professional care, but are a tool to use alongside mental health counseling as a support and resource.

A quick comparison of features will show that they are a user-friendly, and customizable resource to assist with overwhelming feelings and concerns.

The accessibility feature section is left blank as I could not find concrete proof that these apps are comprehensive in their accessibility. The developers mention accessibility features for users with low or no vision, however specific features were not mentioned.

Additional Features of these apps individually provide additional information about them.

(1) Clear Fear

The app has features such as:

• Identifying anxiety types - so people can understand what their fear and anxiety is stemming from; identifying the feelings and why you have them can be very helpful

• An option for immediate help - with tips if you are having a panic attack, need to be walked through a breathing activity, or need to contact your safety net that you have entered

• Providing pre-written statements to help an individual stay positive and determined

• Presence of a self-monitoring dashboard to journal and track anxiety, activity, goal setting, etc.; which is confidential as you can set up a password for access to this app at any time

(2) Calm Harm

The app has features such as:

• Presence of an optional question about the user, and if they are currently seeking professional help for self-harm

• Option to include and utilize mascots within the app that can provide support and encouragement. If you opt-in to the mascots, you can choose how the present, as either “calms” or “animals”.

• Tool that teaches the user to "Ride the Wave" of wanting to self-harm and how to navigate those overwhelming feelings and resist negative coping responses until those feelings subside. This is done by providing guided activities (with the option for different lengths of time: 5 min or 15 min) users can utilize until that urge to harm has passed.

• Opportunity to utilize a variety of different activity types that incorporate actionable mini-activities within them. The different activity types are as follow:

  • Distract: Helps you with learning self-control

  • Comfort: Helps you care rather than harm

  • Express Yourself: Helps you get harmful feelings out in a healthy way

  • Release: Helps provide safe alternatives to self-injury

  • Breath: Helps you increase relaxation and increase feeling calm

For more information about these apps, including video walk-throughs of how they work and QR codes for easy downloading, check out a review that James Madison University (JMU) did about these apps. You can find the review at the following link: https://bit.ly/ClearFearAndCalmHarm