Mental Health Live Podcast Recap
If you’ve been following CHAARG at all during the month of May, you probably noticed that this month, we joined the movement to speak up about mental health, challenge the stigma associated with this topic, + provide resources + support for the community.
Aside from our Mental Health Resource Guide, we also hosted a panel featuring mental health professionals + women who have their own empowering journeys with mental health for our community in Chicago. It was an INCREDIBLE night! Our audience asked authentic, powerful questions leading up to the panel + we covered topics including:
- What mental illness means from a clinical standpoint
- Finding the right therapist
- What to expect in therapy
- Disordered eating
- Suicide + suicide prevention
- Anxiety + depression
- Medication vs. natural remedies
- Nutrition + mental health
- Hormonal health
- How major life transitions impact your mental health
- Social media
- How to support loved ones
++ so much more!
This conversation was vulnerable, informational, + inspiring, so much so that we wanted to share it with the ENTIRE community. You can listen to the live podcast here!
The panel was filled with courageous women who shared more about their personal journeys with mental health. From their own experiences + stories to advice for the audience, they shared so much invaluable information + vulnerable stories. Here’s a little more about our panelists:
Sarah Clem [@sarahkclem] — Passionate about ending the stigma with mental health, Sarah curated the questions + led the panel. Sarah has a powerful journey with mental health, specifically depression. Read more about Sarah’s journey!
Alissa Becker [@alpalbecker] — She will be graduating with her Master’s in Counseling this June! Currently, she is doing her *clinical* setting with patients at a counseling center. Alissa is sharing more about mental health from a therapist’s perspective + how to find the right therapist. She even wrote a post about this for our Mental Health Resource Guide here!
Aya Muramatsu [@konnichiwaya] — Aya shares more on her journey with anxiety + depression as well as hormonal health. She’s also a certified health coach through IIN!
Amanda Vitrano [@amanda_vitrano] — She is sharing about her journey with mental health + grief. She started Learn for Lauren Foundation that founds the Lauren Vitrano Memorial Scholarship at the UIC College of Pharmacy in addition to aiding mental health awareness + suicide prevention programs. Read more about Amanda’s journey!
Jacq Gould [@jacqgould] — Jacq is a mentality coach, founder of Your Inner Babe, + *self-worth enthusiast.* She shares about her journey with mental illness + how she turned it around through transforming the relationship she had with herself.
Megan Cairns Tress [@megan4mentalhealth] — Megan is a Family Nurse Practitioner living with Major Depressive Disorder — her decision to become a health care provider was inspired by her personal + family experiences. She’s speaking to the benefits of therapy, the importance of speaking up, + how to be of service to your friends, family members, or strangers who are suffering from mental illness.
Sarah Jankowski [@sarahjankers] — SJ shares more about her journey with anxiety + her holistic approach to healing as well as how she’s prioritized mental health throughout college + post-grad life. Read more about SJ’s journey!
The CHAARG Podcast! Many of our panelists have been on the podcast — see the episodes below:
- Episode #15 With Sarah Clem: Working With Depression — An Illness Of Loneliness
- Episode #18 With Sarah Jankowski: Working With Anxiety — Fear Of The Future
- Episode #45 With Aya Muramatsu: Soul Cycle, Giving Yourself Credit, + Hormone Health
- Episode #68 With Jacq Gould: The F Word, Eating Disorders, + Your Inner Babe
- Episode #93 With Alissa Becker: Anxiety, Therapy, + Career Transitions
Eating Disorder, Body Image + Self-Esteem
- Book Rec: Embody by Connie Sobczak
- Video Rec: Tarriana “Tank” Ball from Tank and the Bangas, The What’s Underneath Project
- A note from the panel: If you, like many of us, learned to cope with life’s challenges through an obsession with food, you may fall back into those thought processes from time to time. It’s as if food obsession is your first language of coping. I find myself obsessing about food when life feels overwhelming. But then I take a step back, look at what’s happening, accept that obsessing about food was serving me in some way and then remind myself — hey, I now know other ways to cope. Be kind to yourself. Kindness is constructive, + in our ever-changing journey of life, the constructive route is always the best one.
Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Resources:
- Organization: Hope for the Day
- TED Talk: Toward A New Understanding Of Mental Illness
- Monthly Grief Support Groups [for those who have lost a loved one to suicide]: Services
Standardized Screening Tools:
- Depression- PHQ9: Take it here!
- Anxiety- GAD7: Take it here!
- How To Address Suicidal Situations: How + Why The 5 Steps Can Help, Be The 1
Empathy vs. Sympathy
- TED Talk: Brene Brown On Empathy
. . .
Thank you again to our incredible panel, everyone who attended, + our amazing event sponsors [Sipp, Happy Camper, Chicago Raw, + My Tonic Bar]! We hope you tune in to the live podcast + share the podcast + Mental Health Resource Guide with anyone you feel could benefit! Together, we are ending the stigma associated with mental health + creating a safe space to open up about mental health.
