News & Media

Mental Health Week: Get Real About How You Feel

May 5, 2021

It’s been a challenging year with respect to our health. The physical health impacts of Covid-19 have been devastating. But’s it’s not just physical: a huge percentage of Canadians are feeling the toll this pandemic has taken on their mental health.

May 3-9, 2021 is the Canadian Mental Health Association’s Mental Health Awareness Week. This year the theme is Get Real About How You Feel with the slogan being “Name it, don’t numb it.” Good mental health isn’t about being happy and cheerful all of the time. It’s about experiencing a full range of human emotions…and recognizing them. The CMHA has provided a wide variety of resources for individuals via mentalhealthweek.ca.

Fast Facts

  • 40% of Canadians say their mental health has deteriorated since the onset of the pandemic.(1)
  • 1 in 5 Canadians experiences mental illness or a mental health issue in any given year, but 5 in 5 of us – that’s all of us – experienced mental health issues.
  • Regardless of whether or not we have a mental illness, our mental health is something we can protect and nurture.
  • Emotional well-being includes recognizing what influences our emotions, discovering how our emotions affect the way we think or act, taking action when our emotional response isn’t helpful and learning to accept them.(2)
  • Emotional self-regulation, or the ability to label and shape your emotions, is a protective factor for good mental health.(3)

Resources

We encourage you to visit mentalhealthweek.ca more information and articles related to good mental health practices. The CMHA is also offering a variety of recovery and well-being courses online at cmha.ca.

  • If you or someone you love is struggling, there is hope and help:
  • Please contact your local CMHA.
  • Visit http://www.cmha.ca/bounceback.
  • Visit the Government of Canada’s Wellness Together portal.
  • Thinking of suicide? Please call 1-833-456-4566 toll free in Canada (1-866-277-3553 in Quebec).

(1) CMHA/UBC study on the effects of COVID-19 on the mental health of vulnerable populations.
https://cmha.ca/documents/summary-of-findings
(2) https://cmha.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/MH-for-Life-NTNL-brochure-2014-web.pdf
(4) https://eerlab.berkeley.edu/pdf/papers/2011_Troy_Resilience_in_the_face_of_stress.pdf

More News

The Skills Ontario Competition provides a unique platform for apprentices and secondary students to showcase their exceptional skills. Over two…