May is Mental Health Awareness Month

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. This important recognition was established in 1949 to increase awareness of the importance of mental health and wellness in Americans’ lives, and to celebrate recovery from mental illness. This year, the National Alliance on Mental Illness encourages the amplification of the message “Together for Mental Health,” and to advocate for access to quality care for anyone affected by a mental illness.

The prevalence and impact of mental illness are hard to overstate. U.S. prisons are filled with people suffering from untreated mental illness. Incidences of mental illness have gone up significantly since the pandemic began in 2020, when The National Institute of Health reported that one in five American adults experienced a mental health issue, and one in 20 Americans lived with a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression. One in 6 young people experienced a major depressive episode, and suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death for people ages 10-24.

Easterseals New York and the companies of The Fedcap Group understand that most people with mental health problems can recover, and that treatment and recovery are ongoing processes that happen over time. We also believe that work completes treatment. The first step is getting help, and each day across our agency we provide proven treatments, supports and community-based activities to help people living with a mental illness on their path to recovery, through a lens of long-term economic well-being.

Together we can fight the stigma of mental illness, and help build a world where care and treatment for mental illness are available to all.