As Mental Health Month comes to a close, join us in making a commitment to fostering the different dimensions of wellness in your life throughout the year. Remember to aim for balance and recognize the natural ups and downs. As some areas thrive, it’s normal for others to feel as if they are lagging. Striving for perfection in all areas, at all times, can lead to stress and burn-out. It’s important to be kind to yourself! Embrace your unique journey and let self-compassion guide your way. Together, we can create a community where wellness flourishes, one step at a time.
Emotional Wellness is the ability to understand and respect your feelings, adjust to emotional challenges, manage your emotions in a constructive way, and feel positive about your life. It also includes recognizing personal strengths, as well as areas you can grow. MHA helps individuals of all ages foster emotional wellness through a variety of person-centered and trauma-informed therapeutic services throughout Westchester and Rockland. Spiritual Wellness refers to one’s personal beliefs and can include finding meaning, purpose and peace, as well as developing an appreciation for life. Recognizing the vital role spirituality can play in one’s wellness, MHA participates in a Westchester County faith-based mental health initiative designed to equip clergy staff, the larger faith community, and mental health clinicians with resources to foster hope and healing. We’ve also recently created a specialized position to help bridge the gap between mental health care and faith communities. Occupational Wellness involves engaging in activities that provide meaning and purpose, including employment and volunteer work. We have a strongly held belief at MHA: you don’t get “better” in order to work, you work in order to get better. We deeply believe in the healing power of meaningful employment and through our Employment Services, we work closely with individuals to help them find a path that matches their skills, experience and passions. Our robust calendar of activities at the Sterling Community Center also provides a myriad of opportunities for participants to engage in and build meaningful connections with others in support of Occupational Wellness.Physical Wellness involves paying attention to our bodies’ needs and promoting appropriate healthy habits, such as exercise, nutrition, and health care. Physical health can have a powerful impact on emotional health, and how you're feeling emotionally can affect your physical well-being. MHA is committed to offering opportunities and resources to foster whole-person health, including gentle yoga classes at our peer-run Sterling Community Center, support from Care Managers who help connect individuals to primary health care providers to ensure medical needs are addressed, and much more.At MHA Westchester, we understand the importance of environmental wellness in promoting overall mental health and well-being. That's why we are proud to offer supportive housing and apartment treatment programs that prioritize creating a safe and comfortable living environment for individuals on their recovery journey. Our programs provide individuals with stable and affordable housing options, ensuring they have a place to call home while receiving the necessary support and resources for their mental health needs. Our Amazon wishlist invites community members to purchase household items for individuals in these programs, helping to turn "housing" into "home."We know that connection is vital to well-being – especially connection with others who have experienced similar ups and downs in life. A caring person in your corner can make all the difference. Peer Specialists – individuals with personal experience of mental health issues and recovery who are New York State Certified – offer support in many of our programs, including our Recovery Networks, OnTrackNY @ MHA, Driving Towards Resilience, Children’s Services, the Sterling Community Center, and more.Financial wellness is a crucial dimension of overall well-being, and at MHA Westchester, we strive to support individuals in their journey toward financial stability and empowerment. We understand the increasing financial hardships faced by many of our participants. That's why we have taken steps to alleviate some of the burdens by lowering the costs of hot meals and providing free food to volunteers at Sterling Community Center, even as we experienced rising costs of procurement. We want to ensure that everyone has access to nutritious meals without straining their budgets.Intellectual wellness is allowing your brain both stimulation and rest for critical thinking, curiosity, and creativity. Whether it's relaxing with a good book, engaging in puzzles or brain games, or immersing yourself in meaningful conversations and sharing ideas with others, intellectual wellness can be fostered in many forms. As with each dimension of wellness, it's a lifelong journey that can be nourished with small steps each day.
