CA Counseling Consultants

June is Men's Mental Health Month, and the numbers are worth sitting with for a minute. Men die by suicide at nearly four times the rate of women. Over six million men experience depression each year. Most of them never get help. That is not because men do not struggle. It is because they have been taught, in ways both obvious and subtle, that struggling is not something you say out loud. The training starts early. Boys learn fast what happens when they show too much emotion. They learn to...

June is PTSD Awareness Month, and one of the most important things to say upfront is this: PTSD is not only something that happens to veterans. It can happen to anyone who has lived through something that overwhelmed their capacity to cope. Car accidents. Childhood abuse. A difficult birth. Sexual assault. A sudden loss. A medical emergency. Witnessing violence. Living with chronic unpredictability or fear. The list is longer than most people realize, and so is the number of people quietly...

May 11 through 17 is Mental Health Awareness Week, and if you have been waiting for a reason to check in with yourself, this is as good a one as any. Here is something worth knowing: mental health is not a thing you either have or do not have. It is more like a dial than a light switch. Most of us are somewhere in the middle most of the time, managing stress, navigating relationships, trying to keep things together. The goal is not perfection. The goal is awareness. This year's theme is about...