Mental Health Month from APM and Call to Mind
How are you doing? No really, how are you?
May is Mental Health Month and we want to check in. Despite the unusual and difficult conditions we're all dealing with, the Call to Mind team and our American Public Media | Minnesota Public Radio colleagues have big plans for the month. In fact, we feel it's more critical now than ever to help spark and get involved in conversations about mental health -- which has become a key issue in the era of coronavirus.
It is normal to feel stressed, scared, confused, sad or angry right now, even all at once. These are hard and uncertain times, and people are hurting. Know that you are not alone and there are resources to help. Mental Health Month is an opportunity for you to check in on your mental health and feel seen and supported to deal with these issues. Call to Mind is here to call attention to the importance of your mental well-being and provide resources and content to help you cope.
This month, we’re focusing on the fact that it’s #TimeToTalk. Join us in this important conversation about mental health on social media (@calltomindnow), online, on the radio and in your community. We care about you and want to hear how you’re doing.
Additionally, in order to highlight Mental Health Month and make it feel important and special this year, we have worked hard to develop a variety of conversations, experiences and tools to help you focus and check in on your mental health.
Mental Health Month Features from Call to Mind Include:
MPR News will feature mental wellness through reporting, storytelling and programs throughout May. From Morning Edition to All Things Considered, our in-depth talk shows and Marketplace you’ll hear important stories and interviews reflecting how we are coping and exploring the challenges and successes people are experiencing to get essential mental health care now.
Classical MPR is featuring music to help you feel better. Each weekday, you’ll be able to hear “The Most Beautiful Thing You’ll Hear All Day” and take a “Mental Break.” The station is also producing special programs highlighting the power of music to help people’s mental health that will be heard nationally like “Alone Together” and “Regions of the Heart.”
The Current is sponsoring Mid West Music Fest, which has an initiative to support the mental health of people in the music industry. We are partnering with both to host conversations about well-being and mental health with musicians and other event organizers and participants. The Current hosts will also feature wellness and mental health-related music sets, artist interviews, listener requests and comments, and other content throughout May. The Morning Show’s Coffee Break, The Local Show, and Radio Free Current will also have mental health themed programs.
Call to Mind is partnering with CeMental Break to bring messages of wellness and mindfulness to our communities via sidewalk chalk. Find CeMental Breaks at various locations around the metro including:
Lake Harriet
Bde Maka Ska
Minneapolis Sculpture Garden
Como Park
Minnehaha Falls
And more.
We are also working with local Minnesota artist Ry Macarayan who is creating original illustrations for you to print at home, color and put in your windows to share messages of mental wellness and positivity with your neighbors, as well as sidewalk chalk stencils to beautify your neighborhood.
Share your wellness art with us using #TimeToTalk and you’ll be entered to win a prize pack from Call to Mind!
Call to Mind is also working to create virtual "events" about mental health in the time of coronavirus. Follow along here, or @calltomindnow for announcements about dates and sign-up information.
These are just tastes of everything we’re doing with our APM | MPR colleagues to commemorate Mental Health Month this May.
You can find full details and links to all of Call to Mind’s Mental Health Month work here .