Tucson Interfaith Community Services Forum

Thursday, upon the invitation from a friend who volunteers for this organization (www.icstucson.org), I attended this "Lunch and Learn" forum, held at St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church.  The title of the forum was "Out of the Blue:  Understanding Depression" and here are a few facts I learned:

1.  According to the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General:  25% of our population will deal with mental health and/or mental illness during their lifetime; 50% of the population is already affected by mental health and/or mental illness and, by 65 years of age, 50% of the population will have experienced mental illness or a mental health issue.

2.  The number of people whol will die from mental illness is similar to the number who will die from breast cancer and yet, because of the continuing stigma to mental illness, there is no similar formal or informal/community support for the disease of mental illness. 

3.  Starting in 2014, The Affordable Health Care Act, will include some elements of mental health coverage, but they are limited.  (For more info on the Affordable Health Care Act go to www.kff.org , The Kaiser Foundation).

4.  An important question we can all ask ourselves, as a form of mental health awareness and self-help is "How am I living my Day today?"  This means--am I getting enough (30 mins) exercise, eating wisely, taking in sunshine/Vitamin D?  Particularly for those of us in the desert, depression can spike up as the heat builds and we stay inside, isolate and lack Vit. D, so getting out and about in the morning, even having breakfast on the patio, while the temps are cool, is a good way to keep sadness and depression at bay.

El Rio Clinic is offering Mental Health First Aid Trainings (which I intend to look into at 520-318-6946 www.cpsa-rbha.org ) and the State Legislature just passed a bipartisan Mental Health First Aid bill, so, after the Newtown and NRA violence and gun issues have drawn public attention, and since "Silver Linings Playbook" was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar--a lot of attention is now shining on Mental Health.

So, just for today, enjoy the Spring Sunshine and Smile!