2023 Mental Health Awareness Month Toolkit
May is Mental Health Awareness Month!
Mental Health America has been observing Mental Health Awareness Month every May since 1949, reaching out to millions of people through media, local events, and screenings.
Did you know that 21% of adults have a mental health condition? And 46% of Americans will meet the criteria for a diagnosable mental health condition at some point in their life.
Whether you know it or not, someone in your life is affected by mental health. It’s up to us to stay informed and to spread the message that mental health affects us all – and it’s something we should all care about.
About the WTCSB Prevention Program
This year, WTCSB is focusing MHAM on prevention with the theme: Promoting wellness and averting crisis through prevention.
It is our mission to bring Prevention to even our most rural communities, attempting to reduce some of our biggest behavioral and social problems before crisis.
At Western Tidewater CSB, we know that wellness is an integral part and outcome of all Behavioral Health. We passionately strive to support, connect, improve and assist individual, family and community wellness by offering a comprehensive array of strategies; all proven to reduce the challenges and adversity of substance use, mental illness and risk-taking behaviors, that can lead to negative impacts on an individual, to a community as a whole.
Through advocacy, assessment and collaborative community partnerships, we aim to prevent crisis and promote wellness for all of our diverse communities.
Since the inception of the new prevention program at WTCSB we have:
- Delivered Mental Health First Aid training, Adverse Childhood Experiences training, Naloxone Opioid Overdose Revive training, Marijuana Youth Education Classes, and Nurturing Parenting Classes across our community.
- We shined a huge spotlight on Prevention and WTCSB services on WTKR television news broadcasting network, with featured commercials and interviews that will be airing over the next few months with a mammoth reach to 95,917 households! Keep a look out for us!
- We sent staff to the CADCA Gaming and Gambling Bootcamp to ensure we are on the firing line of how to implement support to those in our community who need help with gambling and gaming addictions.
- We visited Tobacco Merchants across Suffolk and distributed Point of Sale materials to prevent the sale of Tobacco to underage Youth, with surveys conducted and responsibility pledges signed from retailers to sell and advertise responsibly.
- We wrapped two buses in the Suffolk area which have awareness adverts for prevention of problem gambling, drinking and smoking with a call to action to the 988 crisis line.
Using this Toolkit
The toolkit guide contains ideas and resources on how you can raise awareness around mental health. It includes key messages that can be used for social media posts, newsletter content, emails, and more. You will also find sample social media posts, imaging and downloads you can share with your community.
Below are the three key messages of our Mental Health Awareness Month 2023 toolkit:
- Key Message 1 – Mental Health Matters
- Key Message 2 – Prevention Week (Sunday, May 7th – Saturday, May 13th)
- Key Message 3 – Getting Help
Ideas for using the provided content:
- Use these key messages to develop content for emails, newsletters, blog posts, and more.
- Share the provided social media posts. These can be shared on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or just about anywhere you can share image or text-based posts. Don’t forget to add #MentalHealthAwarenessMonth to your posts so others can learn from what you’re doing.
- Share the key messages and provided content with friends, colleagues, and other groups you’re engaged with.
- Share these key messages through conversations, meetings, community events, and more. Every day brings another opportunity to raise awareness of the importance of mental health.
Download the whole 2023 MHAM Toolkit – including all PDFs, Images, and the Guide
Download the whole 2023 MHAM Toolkit Guide only.
Individual Supporting PDFs and Downloads
Individual Social Media Images by Key Message
WTCSB Services
We provide integrated services and relief for multiple mental health needs, support for individuals with developmental disabilities, and substance abuse help.
Same Day Access
Our exclusive Same-Day Access to care and 24/7 crisis intervention means our caring team of clinicians and counselors are always within reach.
Who We Are
Western Tidewater CSB is the leading authority in mental health and developmental services in Franklin, Suffolk, Isle of Wight County, and Southampton County. Learn more about what truly sets us apart.