As a mental health clinician, mental health awareness month is near and dear to my heart and yet when thinking about writing a blog post on this topic my mind has gone over so many different possibilities. How possibly can one blog post sum up all of the things I want to say and share about this topic? It can’t. So, I will do my very best to introduce you to two different models that shape an understanding of mental health because I believe that knowledge and perspective are powerful change agents.
Mental health is a topic that is worth all of our attention because it impacts each and every one of us in unique and similar ways.
One way of looking at our mental health is based on a continuum model. I am a very visual person, and while I know firsthand that mental health is much more complex than one continuum, I like the energy behind the model. This continuum captures the following:
What I love about this continuum is that the energy is not static; it is dynamic showing that we can move fluidly. As our beautiful brains are wired with a negativity bias, it is easy for our systems to feel the weight of crisis, struggle and survival and feel as though these will be our forever states. There is both a freedom and a hope attached to a model that sees the possibility and potential for movement.
I also love models that look at mental health beyond the individual. We are collectively bound to each other and the systems that are in place can have a profound impact on our ability to move between this continuum. Let me introduce you to the “person in environment” perspective.
What strikes me most about this model is truly seeing the interactional forces that exist and impact our mental health both as protective factors and factors that perpetuate our problems. I am a strong believer that “problems are problems” and not that “people are problems”. I feel the sooner that this is recognized we will take a leap forward in our collective mental health and wellness. This also provides us with so many options for exploring and storying our experiences.
I do hope that I offered a new perspective or affirmed a way you may already see and understand mental health.
Jess Crowe, MSW, RSW
Registered Social Worker