Getting the Help You Need

Getting the Help You Need

I’m writing this on a day when the temperature actually feels somewhat normal. It’s been a difficult summer for most of us with unrelenting heat and very little rain. I hope you’ve done okay this summer, in spite of these conditions, and that your air conditioner has held up. Today’s high is only supposed to be 82! That sounds delicious compared to 100+ degrees. Now if we could just get some rain. (Hope hope!)

So let’s talk mental health and getting help if you need it. I was on the Mental Health America website today and noticed that they have a self-assessment tool called the M3 Screener. The M3 is an anonymous, online screening tool for various mental-health conditions – such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and even post-traumatic stress disorder. Because I’m very inquisitive, I took the M3 and found it to be easy to navigate through, with instant feedback regarding my answers. The website encourages those who take the assessment to discuss the results with their health-care provider. This is really important because, no matter how good the self-assessment tool is, you and your health-care provider will take further steps together to help you with medication, therapy, and other options.

A nice thing about this website is that, if you scroll down to the bottom of the home page, you will see listings of various mental-health conditions. You can click on what you’re interested in and learn more about the condition. There is an abundance of information, and it appears to be well written, helpful, and not too technical or overly-filled with medical terminology. There is also a fairly extensive section just on children’s mental-health issues, including ADHD, bullying, and coping with separation and divorce. This may be timely information for so many families in the Alegent Community that have kids headed back to school.

I invite you to take a look at this website and see what you think. If you take the M3 and the feedback indicates a mental-health concern, talk to your health-care provider. You can even print out the assessment with your answers, and take this with you to your appointment. Let your provider know what’s going on so you can get all the help you need. One of the things I love most about working for and with Alegent is that there are providers with an enormous amount of education, talent, and passion for what they do. And they are ready, willing, and able to help you get the help that you need.

Don’t hesitate to let me know what your thoughts are regarding the M3, the Mental Health America website, or any other topics you’d like to discuss in this blog.

Take care!