Maureen Dunleavy with the Guidance Care Center joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about the organization.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month.
Dunleavy said, “May is a very big month for mental health and for the Guidance Care Center, because not only is it mental health awareness month, but it is also our 53rd anniversary in the Florida Keys. So Guidance Care Center was started mid May in 1973 and we’ve been doing comprehensive services all throughout the Keys, everything behavioral health related since that time. You can access all of our services through our main number, which is 305-434-7660. We have a mobile crisis response team. So basically, that’s a 24/7 hotline for anyone who’s having a behavioral health crisis, whether it’s due to mental health or substance use, we don’t want to lose any more lives in this community. So they can call that main number. You don’t have to listen to the script. You can automatically press eight, and you’ll be connected to a live person who can then help triage and decide how we can best help you. We have the entire continuum of care. So we provide psychiatric services, we have case managers, therapists, counselors, we do substance abuse groups, pretty much the whole gamut of anything that’s needed.”
Everyone has mental health and it’s important to take care of your own mental health all year.
Dunleavy said, “Everyone has mental health, and you have it your whole lifetime. There’s a lot of stigma around mental health, which is kind of interesting, because we all have it, and depending upon what’s going on in your life, depends on where you fall on that continuum. You have to have a lot of tools in the toolbox to kind of manage the stressors and the things that happen in our lives, and so you want to be able to deal with whatever comes your way. May, surprisingly, is also a high month for stress, especially in this community, because Disaster Preparedness Month and June 1 is when we start hurricane season. So one of the most common mental health issues is anxiety, and we all have some level of anxiety, right? So we have things we worry about, and anxiety is really one of two things. It’s either overestimating how likely something will happen or underestimating our ability to handle it. So what does that mean? That means that most things that we worry about never happen, and if they do, then we’re better able to deal with it than we give ourselves credit for.”
Connections with people are so important.
Dunleavy said, “One of the best things you can do for your mental health is connect. So that’s connecting with other people, connecting with your community. We live in a beautiful area. We can connect with nature year round. We have pretty good weather, so we can get outside. And so all of those things are really good for our mental health. So those are all protective measures to help manage those things like anxiety and depression, which we all have at some level. We tend to focus on the bad things, right? So if there’s five good things that happen today and one bad thing, what are we typically calling people and talking about? That one bad thing. It’s a skill to be able to focus on the good days or the positive things that are happening in our lives, because often there are so many more positives than negatives, but just the human tendency is to want to look at that one negative thing. Guidance Care Center has many programs. We have therapists, we have counselors that can help to build those skills, because it is a skill to be able to note that, even through the tough, tough days, there are still things that to be grateful for, or things that are positive. Mental Health this month is about just remembering that we’re all in it together, and connecting with other people is one of the best things you can do for your mental health. Don’t be afraid to reach out for help. Gathering information is helpful to be able to ease your mind, to know what’s out there and we’re available 24/7, 305-434-7660.”
For more information, click here: https://guidancecarecenter.org/