“There is no health without mental health; mental health is too important to be left to the professionals alone, and mental health is everyone’s business.” – Vikram Patel May is Mental Health Awareness Month! Happy Mental Health Awareness! We all know that this month of Mental Health Awareness has fallen on a crucial time. ……
Posts Tagged with suicide prevention
Why I “Walk to Fight Suicide”…
On Saturday, November 2nd, I participated in the AFSP 13th Annual DC Out of the Darkness Community Walk for Suicide Prevention for the 5th consecutive year. By the time the event began, AFSP raised approximately $315,000 with the goal to reach $350,000 this year!The funds go towards research and advocacy, training, and community awareness among…
Addressing Mental Health Stigma in Academia
This topic warrants more time, research, and reflection, but I want to begin sharing my initial reflections here, due to some recent experiences. I’ve been baffled by the irony of mental health stigma in our communities. Especially in my locality for the past 9 years. Washington, DC has probably some of the most “depressed” or…
I will not cry…
I will cry, and that’s okay. I understand this is not your way… To hand me a tissue, when you see me on the train…. When a tear slides down my cheek, As my forehead hugs the window pane. But if I cry, I can promise you … My spirit will not die. It isn’t…
Islam and Mental Health: Fighting Stigma while Embracing God…
I’m no scholar of Islam. Although there was a time where I lived and breathed and walked and talked and drank and ate this religion (stealing Yusuf Islam’s words 😊 ) and a time that my greatest dream was to be a scholar of Human Rights in Islam. Dreams change, and sometimes they have to….…
Happy Mental Health Awareness Month!
I had these shoes for nearly five years, come this summer…. I got them during my medical leave that year, a few months after I attempted to take my life and landed myself in a psych ward of a hospital. The shoes became an integral part of my “survival routine,” since then. They have been…
“Out of the Darkness”: Take Three ….
Yesterday, I participated in the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s (AFSP) 11th Annual “Out of the Darkness’ Community Walk in Washington, DC. The event took place in front of the Lincoln memorial this year, a place with a lot of history, where many important and historic marches and movements have transpired. It was my third…
The 2017 AFSP “Out of the Darkness” DC Community Walk
Once again, in the third consecutive year, I am participating in The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) “Out of the Darkness” Community Walk, in Washington, DC. Each year, there are over 40,000 people who die by suicide in the US. It is the AFSP’s goal to reduce the annual suicide rate to 20…