AUSTIN, Texas — The last year has taken a toll on a lot of us. Data shows anxiety, depression, even suicide rates rose for certain groups during the pandemic.
In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, Integral Care launched a new resource. It's a mental health toolkit and gives people tips and resources they can access.
"We wanted things to be available in the community for individuals to be able to be empowered to utilize what's available. And so we have a resource page where anybody can go online at IntegralCare.org and be able to utilize the resources that exist both within the community and nationally, especially as that relates to different communities," said Samantha Montemayor with Integral Care. "So if there's a particular resource that's going to be best suited for individuals in the Asian Pacific Islander community, the Latino community, the Black community, there are those specific resources. And then the broader resources which include our crisis helpline and anything else in the community that may be of support of individuals who are experiencing mental health crisis or who just want to be aware of mental wellness and how to support themselves and loved ones."
One of the resources included helps people learn how to start a conversation about mental health.
"I know specifically for myself, my peers, my friends, we were not raised in environments where we know how to talk about our mental wellness. Some of us might come from environments where ... we're leaning on our resilience. So we gut up," said Aaron Evans with Integral Care. "We're not talking about how we're feeling emotionally. And so getting educated and having these conversations more often actually allow and give people permission to discuss how they're feeling mentally, how they're feeling emotionally. The sooner we can talk about it, the better we could potentially prevent a crisis from occurring."
KVUE spoke with Montemayor and Evans on Thursday afternoon, diving into topics like how to talk to friends, kids, or how to tell someone you need help. Watch the full video here:
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