May is Mental Health Awareness Month, a time to highlight the importance of mental well-being and connect San Diego residents with resources, education and support. County officials, community organizations and mental health advocates are using the month to promote awareness, reduce stigma and gather input to help shape the future of behavioral health services across the region.
Mental Health Awareness Month was first launched in 1949 by the Mental Health America national nonprofit to emphasize the importance of mental health in every stage of life. The effort has grown into a nationwide movement and has become one that community leaders in San Diego say is more important than ever.
Dr. Piedad Garcia, deputy director for Behavioral House Services at the County of San Diego Health and Human Services, has spent over four decades working with the county to support individuals with serious mental health issues.
“My passion for my job really stems from helping persons with serious mental illnesses,” she said. “It’s a vocation that’s very difficult and with a challenging population, but these are individuals that need the support, help, compassion, assistance and the care to get through their mental illness and make their lives worthwhile.”
The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) shares this year’s national theme, “In Every Story, There’s Strength.” It highlights the resilience in people’s diverse mental health journeys and the value of sharing those stories to build empathy and reduce stigma.
Garcia emphasized that while May’s Mental Health Awareness Month is a national campaign, local organizations have long worked collaboratively to make a difference in the region.
“Mental Health Awareness Month is a national event, but here in San Diego we have been working very closely with NAMI, Mental Health America and other nonprofits,” she said. “It’s an opportunity and a campaign for the month of May to increase awareness, knowledge and educate the community about what resources are available so they can access them and really try to mitigate their mental health issues.”
San Diego County is offering community engagement activities throughout May and beyond, which are designed to gather input and inform future mental health and substance use services. Their website says the feedback will help shape care priorities, guide investments and ensure local programming reflects the lived experiences and needs of residents.
Recently the public learned about local crisis response services, including the Access and Crisis Line, mobile Crisis Response Teams and other resources.
Garcia talked about the increasing mental health challenges facing youth, especially those navigating social media and digital environments.
“We know more now than we ever knew about the youth and their mental health,” she said. “Particularly as it relates to the social media access that the youth have and how that contributes in some cases to behavior health problems. There’s research around bullying that goes on through social media and the impact on youth in terms of sadness, depression or anxiety, and that’s a major issue right now, as well as substance use and suicide that are all interconnected.”
She also noted that there has been meaningful progress in reducing stigma around mental illness. Still, she said there’s more to be done, especially when it comes to the words we use.
“It’s changing the nomenclature as we grow as individuals in the community and having terms that are less stigmatizing,” she said. “It’s a work in progress and I think the work that we need to continue to do is through educating the community on how to neutralize those labels.”
To learn more, visit www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/sdc/hhsa/programs/bhs/all_services and www.nami.org
