We Appreciate Our Teachers!

 

We Appreciate Our InnerAct Alliance Teachers &
Prevention Specialist Team    

In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, we want to thank all of the amazing educators who provide support, love, and care to students each day. 

InnerAct Alliance is a licensed provider for substance abuse prevention in Polk, Highlands, and Hardee counties providing science-based substance abuse and bullying prevention programs that serve elementary, middle, and high school students in nearly 70 schools.

We especially want to thank the awesome InnerAct Alliance Teachers and Prevention Specialist team who work hard each day to share knowledge and support with students and schools throughout our community to help youth grow up safe, healthy, and drug-free.

May is Mental Health Month - Look Around, Look Within

 

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. This effort, which was begun by Mental Health America (MHA) in 1949, encourages us to Look Around, Look Within to focus on how the world around us affects our sense of well-being. 

InnerAct Alliance is proud to celebrate Mental Health Month to help raise awareness of individual and community mental health, reduce stigma, share resources, and suggest proactive steps to support well-being. We know the odds are higher for those with a mental illness to turn to drugs or alcohol as a means to cope.

Mental Health is an incredibly important part of overall health and well-being. The world around us can be both positive and negative – creating joy and sadness, hope and anxiety. Our overall health is significantly impacted by our natural and built environment: the places we live, work, play, and congregate, as well as economic stability and social connections, all have a powerful influence on our well-being.

While we often consider these environmental factors to be “social determinants of health” (SDOH) that relate more to physical health, it makes sense to consider the effects of our environment on our mental health as well. The more these factors work in our favor, the more likely we are to experience better well-being. Conversely, when it seems like the world is working against us, mental health can suffer.

We can all benefit from more stable environments, building strong communities, and available access to needed services. 

Here are some proactive steps suggested by Mental Health America to help change our spaces and protect our well-being. 

• Work toward securing safe & stable housing: This can be challenging due to finances, age, and other reasons, but you can reach out to state/local agencies about secure housing, remove safety hazards in the home, or find another space (perhaps a community center or friend’s home) where you can get the comfort you are missing at home.

• Focus on your home: Consider keeping your space tidy, sleep-friendly, and well-ventilated. Surround yourself with items that help you to feel calm and positive.

• Create bonds with your neighborhood and community: Get to know the people living around you. Join or start a neighbors-helping-neighbors group, and support local businesses to challenge gentrification.

• Connect with nature: Go for a hike, sit in a city park, bring a plant inside, or keep the shades open to absorb natural light.

Help is just a call or click away:  If you are taking steps to improve your surroundings but are still struggling with issues such as depression or anxiety, it’s more common than you may think. The good news is that it is treatable. Free private screenings are available  on the MHA website at https://screening.mhanational.org/screening-tools/ to help figure out what is going on and determine the next important steps to seek help. More great resources for support services and treatment can be found on the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) website https://namiorg/home. 

We are in this together! By raising awareness during Mental Health Month, we can influence our society to make mental health a priority. Help is available to talk about life's struggles in a safe place. The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline offers 24/7 free and confidential support for those in distress, along with prevention and crisis resources.

Find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/InnerActAlliance and on our online blog https://inneractblogtownhallmeeting.blogspot.com/ to stay up-to-date on mental health awareness, local substance abuse prevention issues, information, and resources.     

Come see IAA at the Watermelon Festival this Saturday, May 6

 

Spending time with your children taking part in fun activities and attending community events together can strengthen family bonds that may positively impact their decision not to use alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs. In fact, there's a great family-friendly event coming up in Lakeland this weekend!

Join us at Bonnet Springs Park on Saturday May 6, from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, to enjoy the Watermelon Festival, presented by Florida Children's Museum and the Early Learning Coalition of Polk County. Enjoy FREE activities on the Great Lawn including live music, lawn activities, free watermelon slices, and more...then explore the museum - only pay what you can.

Stop by the InnerAct Alliance display table on the Great Lawn to say "hello" and pick up some cool giveaways, informative brochures, and kids can partake in a fun craft! Our humane educator will read to children throughout the day with fun stories that teach youngsters how to treat humans and animals with kindness and respect.

See you at Bonnet Springs Park on Saturday! 🍉 Visit the Florida Children's Museum website for more info: https://explorefcm.org/event/watermelon-festival/

Mental Health Awareness Moment - Help Is Available

 

1 in 5 Adults in the U.S. experience mental illness each year.
Less than half of them receive treatment.

We are in this together - You are not alone. 

Help is Available: nami.org/help

#MoreThanEnough

Make May Self-Care Your Mission this Month

 

May is Mental Health Awareness Month and there’s no better way to support health and well-being than by taking time to care for ourselves! Ultimately, when we take care of ourselves and our own needs, that’s when we are able to show up for all of the other people and responsibilities in our lives.

Our Mission for May should be focusing on what makes us feel nourished and what helps ease feelings of stress and anxiety. 💖

You can’t help but feel inspired by the ideas in this colorful graphic from Positively Present that are perfect in their simplicity – buy the flowers 🌷🌸 – text an old pal 📱 – find home within yourself 🐢

Something that always makes me feel good is to “Spruce Up Your Space” – it doesn’t have to be full-out spring cleaning. Perhaps add a splash of color with new throw pillows, paint an accent wall, pick up a cute little décor piece for a shelf or tv cabinet. Even a new kitchen or bath towel!

It feels good to feel good, so choose even one little thing you can do (or more!) that makes you smile during the month of May! 😊

MAY is Mental Health Awareness Month

 

May is Mental Health Awareness Month! The 2023 theme from Mental Health America (MHA) is Look Around, Look Within. 

The world around us can be both positive and negative - bringing joy and sadness, hope and anxiety. As humans, our overall health is significantly impacted by our natural and built environment. The places we live, work, play, and congregate all have a powerful influence on our well-being. It makes sense to consider their effects on our mental health.

During Mental Health Awareness Month, InnerAct Alliance will share some of the practical resources offered by Mental Health America on how to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health and encourage you to support your own mental health as well as the health of those in your community. We can do that by learning about how to create mentally healthy and safe spaces and how to alter or change our surroundings to better support mental health.

A few suggestions to incorporate in your daily activities this week may be:

* Try to find 15 minutes to get some sunlight - if that isn't an option, use a daylight lamp or a blue light lamp when you spend all day indoors.

* Create a "favorite things" corner, basket, or space with pictures of people/things you love, textures that bring you joy, or your favorite color.

* Remember that your mind and body are connected. Use your space to assist you with physical movement - find a good spot to stretch, practice yoga, or other exercises you can do at home.

* Write down affirmations or notes that you can look at throughout the day. These could go in your home or car to serve as reminders as you go about your day. 

* Play music instead of watching TV when you have downtime at home.

Learn more about how your environment impacts your mind and what you can do about it by visiting https://mhanational.org/mental-health-month

Highlighting One of Our UthMpact Leaders of Tomorrow – Brianna Castano

 

Today is National Leaders of Tomorrow Day and InnerAct Alliance would like to take opportunity to highlight one of our UthMpact Leaders, Brianna Castano, who has served as an intern for InnerAct Alliance this year. 

We asked Brianna some questions about her goals for the future now that she is graduating high school. Please read her answers below. 

Q1 - What college have you chosen to attend and what do you plan to study?

A1 - Starting in the fall, I will be attending the University of Central Florida as a data science major.

Q2 - In your chosen field of study, is there an opportunity for you to become a leader? 

A2 - There are definitely opportunities. Data scientists work in teams and I could potentially lead a team on a project.

Q3 - You've been part of UthMpact for a logn time, and you've also been such a tremendous help here in the office! What experience have you gained from being in UthMpact and interning at InnerAct Alliance?

A3 - I have done a lot of things I never thought a high schooler would. I attend meetings, write grant applications, speak on the news, serve as a receptionist; heck, I've even been to jail (on a tour, I wasn't arrested). Through these things and more, I learned how to do a lot of things as well as build on soft skills. My people and communication skills have greatly improved. However, the biggest thing I will be taking away from my time at UthMpact and InnerAct Alliance is a greater sense of confidence. Before joining UthMpact, if the attention was on me, my face would be tomato red. Before interning, I dreaded answering the phone. Those things don't bother me anymore. Being placed in all these new places, situations, and tasks and having to figure it out more-than-less on my own, has grown my confidence in that I'm capable of figuring out whatever life throws at me.  

Q4 - In your chosen field of study, what is your goal? Is there something in particular that you want to accomplish within your field of study?

A4 - At the moment, I barely know what I'm getting myself into. I don't understand data science enough yet to have goals for myself in the field. Ideally, I'd like to use my findings to do good and not just increase profits. However, I know that in the future I want to encourage and mentor girls in STEM. In STEAM and advanced classes, it wasn't uncommon for me to be one of only a few girls. Even a decade later, I still remember being the only girl in a line of boys receiving a math trophy. My goal, I suppose, will be to encourage other girls who are interested in STEM and help them to excel.

Congratuations Brianna & all our UthMpact Leaders!

We know you will continue to do big things!!