It's OK to not be OK. Check out this video for students by students from Active Minds. These are stressful times, and most of us are experiencing more stress than we are used to. You are not alone.

Today we kick off Suicide Prevention and Awareness Week with a special focus on Hope. Hope is defined as the belief that challenges can be overcome. It has a bidirectional relationship with resiliency: hope strengthens resilience, and resilience contributes to hopefulness. Further, hope and resilience are fundamental to the process of recovery. According to SAMHSA, “Hope is the catalyst of the recovery process, it is the belief that people can and do overcome internal and external challenges, barriers and obstacles that confront them”. We believe that hope can be fostered by peers, families, providers, allies and the community. Just as everyone can play a role in suicide prevention, everyone can play a role in spreading hope.

Today spread a message of hope throughout your household, organization or community:

Watch and share Alexandra’s story of hope and recovery, as well as others, at Each Mind Matters Stories collection here

We encourage you to design your own Heart Wall in your own home.

***For younger kids: They will love help building a Heart Wall. You can explain that building this Heart Wall will show people in the neighborhood that you are thinking about them and care for your community. You can also offer up the suggestion to go for a walk to see if you can spy other messages of hope.

Resilience is defined as the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; the ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape, an ability to recover from or adjust easily to adversity or change. A strong protective factor, resilience is about the ability to withstand or rebound from challenges.

Everyone has bad days. Everyone feels stuck or overwhelmed or stressed out sometimes. Asking for help is not a weakness. Taking the time to take care of yourself is not selfish. Sometimes it takes some trial and error to figure out what works for you when you are feeling down. The better you learn to manage stress, the more likely you will have more of the good days.

But maybe its not just a bad day. Maybe its been bad for a while now. If you recognize these signs in yourself or in a friend, it's time to ask for help. Here is a great resource to help you start that conversation.

***For younger kids: The Sandy Hook Promise has developed a program called "Start with Hello." Talk to your children about the importance of being a friendly face for their classmates. Ask them how they might notice a kid who is lonely. Have them practice their own unique "Hello Style" so that they can make other kids feel welcome and included. They are never too young to practice empathy!

What happens after a crisis?

If you or someone you love has experienced a suicidal crisis, know that recovery is not only possible but achievable.

SAMHSA defines recovery as “a process of change through which individuals improve their health and wellness, live a self-directed life and strive to reach their full potential." Millions of people throughout the world are building a healthy and meaningful life in recovery today. Through the celebration of recovery, we are able to spread the message to people facing mental health challenges that hope, resilience, and recovery are attainable. As individuals living in recovery are empowered to share their stories, individuals seeking to achieve their recovery goals can be empowered as well.

We also know that the best way to a strong and sustainable recovery is to be a part of a supportive community. Check out these organizations that offer opportunities for building a safe community to support you in your recovery.

***For younger kids: Help them check in on their own emotions with a coping skills worksheet or activity. Your school counselor is also a great resource for coping skills plans for kids.

With the remaining months of 2020 how will you continue to care for yourself and your community? Our world in 2020 has been turned upside down - a global pandemic, a racial reckoning, a historic wildfire season. Voices of survivors of disaster from Strength After can help provide the perspective you might need to know that we are going to get through this.

Make a committment to yourself this weekend to hack into your happiness chemicals with some of these self-care strategies.

***For younger kids: Check in with your kids and ask how they are feeling about remote learning, the pandemic, and all the smoke. Share your own feelings. Has your family ever been through a natural disaster before? Or a family crisis? Use this as a time to talk about the experience and how you came through it. Point out the helpers. This sort of perspective can be quite powerful.