In grief work, we often devote considerable time to discussing death, the loss of a beloved family member or a dear friend. But what about non-death losses? How does one grieve something that is undefined and intangible?

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, so we checked in with one of our Response for Teens clinicians, Zatio Kone, to learn more about the subject.

“I really think that mental health is about learning how to live with the range of human emotions and learning how to tolerate everything that comes our way,” Zatio said. “It’s ok to struggle sometimes, it’s ok to feel less than great.

Sixteen-year-old Maya was not attending high school on a regular basis. With her parents separated, the oldest of four became quite isolated and spent many hours online. She had very little contact with people outside of social media.  Maya’s mother contacted JCFS Chicago’s Response for Teens to get help for her daughter. 

During Mental Health Awareness Month, we want to call attention to the recently published Surgeon General Advisory report on the epidemic of loneliness and isolation.

Your diet affects everything in your body, including energy, serotonin production, and a slew of non-depression related things which might exacerbate your moods.

For some, shortened days and fewer hours of sunshine mean less energy, loss of appetite, and feelings of despair or hopelessness. “Seasonal depression, or seasonal affective disorder (SAD), is a type of depression that’s related to a change in seasons.

Suicide Awareness week will be observed September 4th-10^th this year with the goal of raising awareness about suicide and support both for those who struggle with suicidal ideation and those grieving the death of a loved one from suicide. 

Opening up about mental health issues can be a scary thing; it requires showing vulnerability to other people who might react unexpectedly. However, it becomes easier for someone to be honest about their issues when a friend or family member reaches out and checks in on them.

We applaud UIC Associate Professor Kristin Berg and the Behavioral Health Stratified Treatment (BEST project) for seeking to better understand the needs of young people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. We at JCFS Chicago share the project’s goals of early identification and treatment of mental health challenges to improve health and vocational trajectories across the life.

This is still hard. And we wish it weren’t. We wish we were wistful about 2021 coming to an end. 
We wish the pandemic was definitively coming to an end. And so, as we look ahead to 2022, let’s begin to imagine how we will recover from this crisis.