May is Mental Health Awareness Month

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) recognizes May as Mental Health Awareness month. Millions of Americans face the challenge of living each day with a mental illness.

You are not alone.
During Mental Health Awareness month, NAMI sends the message that “you are not alone” to those dealing with mental health issues. By using national resources, individuals and families can get the support they need to live happy and healthy lives.

NAMI provides a safe place for connection and community―where individuals can share personal stories to help those struggling. To learn more, visit this link.

Heightened needs during the pandemic.
Mental health support has been especially important during the pandemic. Uncertainty around the virus, resources for testing, vaccination and treatment, and growing financial losses are among the major stressors. These stressors can cause emotional distress and an increased risk for psychiatric illness associated with COVID-19. Health care providers have an important role in addressing these emotional challenges as part of the pandemic response (source).

Landmark’s behavioral health team.
Landmark has an integrated behavioral health team that can provide treatment to Landmark patients and facilitate connection to additional mental health care and support as needed. The behavioral health team has provided an important connection to Landmark patients who have experienced depression, isolation, loneliness and anxiety associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

A story of a Landmark patient.
Joe is a 74-year-old widower, who had moved into an assisted living facility in January 2020, just prior to the onset of the pandemic. Due to quarantine guidelines, he could not go out for activities, have visitors, eat meals in the dining room, or socialize with other residents. He said some days he wasn’t even able to leave his room. Joe expressed his frustration and said, “This isn’t really living, it’s just existing. No one knows when this prison sentence will end.”

Joe’s Landmark behavioral health provider adjusted his medications and connected him to online counseling. The Landmark social worker provided Joe with phone numbers for Project Hope and Crisis Services. Landmark’s nurse care manager increased the frequency of her check-in calls with Joe, where she reviewed key coping strategies and offered mindfulness skills.

The behavioral health provider also collaborated with the director of nursing, nursing staff, and counselor at Joe’s assisted living facility to explore senior day programs, peer support, and virtual support groups.

In recent weeks, some of the facility’s restrictions have been lifted, and Joe was able to see his sisters again for the first time in over a year. He is grateful for the support of Landmark’s behavioral health, social work and nursing team and credits Landmark with seeing him through some of the hardest months of his life.

*Patient name changed to protect the patient identity.