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DAISY | Creative Mental Wellness

October 2023 Newsletter

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Updates!

January 13, 2024 we will be celebrating the first ever Mental Health Resources Day with a Mental Health Resources Fair! Our 2024 Diamond sponsor is Move Nation Dance Academy. The fair this year will help connect the Houston community to their local mental health resources, including professionals, non-profits and treatment facilities. Local businesses that offer support for mental health will also be invited to participate. There will be games, entertainment, prizes, and an appearance from DAISY the Mental Health Dachsund! It’s easy to get overwhelmed looking for information or support/treatment for mental health, but we think this is a great way to help provide information on mental health and local resources in an unintimidating way. We hope you will join us or support us for this event! Keep your eye out for more details on venue and time.

FALL into a season of SELF CARE! 

How Autumn Brings Opportunities for Self (Mental Health) Care

While the fall may bring about stress for many, as tests and holidays are approaching, it also brings cooler weather, football games and other outdoor activities like corn mazes. It’s time to put away those swimsuits and put on a flannel! The more moderate temperatures can give you the opportunity to go enjoy a warm beverage on a walk, pick pumpkins at a local pumpkin patch, or enjoy a festival. These activities provide great photo opportunities, but it is also important to try to spend some time “unplugged” to enjoy the fresh air and company of your loved ones. Let’s explore how you can use fall activities to boost your mental health!
Football Games – Autumn wouldn’t be complete without the excitement of football games. Whether you’re cheering for your local team or playing a friendly match with friends, sports activities promote social connections. Being part of a community, whether in the stands or on the field, fosters a sense of belonging and camaraderie. These connections are vital for mental health, providing emotional support and reducing feelings of loneliness. Engaging in friendly competition also releases endorphins, improving your mood and overall sense of well-being.
Pumpkin picking – Pumpkin patches are really a sight to behold, with pumpkins in every size, shade of orange, and with all sorts of “flaws” like bumps, an odd shape or a too-thin stem. While it may seem too simple to compare pumpkins to bodies, every pumpkin is different as every body is different, and every pumpkin is still valuable. Pumpkin patches can serve as a reminder to not only hold value in your body, but recognize that other bodies hold value too, even if they are not what you see in magazines. 
State Festivals – Many states hold their state festivals in the fall, giving residents and visitors alike the chance to try a myriad of local foods, music, and other vendors. Festivals are fun to explore with friends or family, immersing yourself in the state’s culture and traditions. Spending time with loved ones outdoors, learning and laughing can greatly boost your “happy hormones” and your overall mental health.

This fall, try to enjoy as many local outdoor activities with your loved ones! DAISY sure will.

Local Fall Outdoor Activities
Local Fall Outdoor Activities
Local Fall Outdoor Activities

DAISY Practices 

going outdoors & connecting with others

DAISY is enjoying the cooler weather by getting out and going to football games with her friends! She loves the supportive energy that the fans bring to the games, and the cheerleaders are entertaining to watch. See if your loved ones may be interested in getting into full fan mode and going to a game with you! Don’t be afraid to cheer and show your support!

 

DAISY going outdoors
DAISY going outdoors

Thank you for joining us on this mental health journey! Follow us on Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn to stay up to date. 

Your friend,

DAISY

Events

Mental Health Resources Day

Mental Health Resources Day

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Mental Health Resources Day 2025

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On January 18, 2025, Creative Mental Wellness is hosting the 2nd Annual MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES DAY at the Judson Robinson Jr. Community Center (2020 Hermann Drive, Houston, Texas, 77004) from 10:30 am to 2 pm.

The mission of 501(C)(3) CR38V3 M1ND5/(dba) Creative Mental Wellness involves filling in gaps in the mental health care system.  In addressing that goal, we created MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES DAY—essentially a mental health fair with vendors & speakers—to give community members the opportunity to learn more about what resources exist in the area for treatment and support for mental health, behavioral health, & substance use disorder while simultaneously encouraging the people who work in those fields to get to know one another better and collaborate with one another more frequently.  At MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES DAY, we are also highlighting organizations that help address needs people have that can negatively impact mental health.

In 2024, we had speakers from NAMI Greater Houston, Houston Police Department CIRT, & SAMHSA explain what they do and their work in mental health/behavioral health/substance use disorder.  For 2025, NAMI Greater Houston, SAMHSA, & the Houston Police Department CIRT are returning & will be joined by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the Houston Food Bank, UTHealth Houston Behavioral Sciences Campus, Baylor College of Medicine/Menninger Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Houston Recovery Center, Veterans Affairs Suicide Prevention Program, Harris Health, & so many more valuable community resources to engage with the community and share information in an effort to avail community members to more support and care for significant health issues.

MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES DAY 2025 will include speakers’ panels to discuss topics including grief/bereavement, substance use disorder issues, things to do to elevate/manage mental health/prevent crises & addressing the gaps in the mental health care system.  Representatives from various community resources will be assembled and discussions with be facilitated to talk about these important topics with the goal of providing the audience with interesting things to think about and maybe even share ideas to increase their quality of life.

The event will not only provide information, but there will be activities to enjoy, entertain, and promote connections–even brief ones–with other people.  There will be a (free) workshop to create & decorate Gratitude Journals hosted by local artist Margaret Alvarez from My Artsy Coach, a puppet show (ventriloquist Seanda Blocker will chat with DAISY The Mental Health Dachshund, the puppet that likes to “talk” about mental health topics to normalize such discussions & de-stigmatize mental health disorders/mental illness), and we’re still working on other ideas so attendees can elevate their mental health while attending the event.  If you’d like to make a Gratitude Journal, please scan the code below to register to help us provide enough materials for all who are interested in taking part in the workshop.

If you’re in the Houston area on January 18th, we hope you will join us!  We’re working to make this annual event a helpful and enjoyable day for acquiring valuable information as well as elevating mental health through CONNECTION with people who care very much about enabling a better quality of life for all of us! We are also planning to give away some goodies to enhance the FUN factor!

WHEN IT COMES TO MENTAL HEALTH, IT’S NOT ABOUT GETTING TO THE FINISH LINE FIRST.  IT’S ABOUT US ALL GETTING THERE TOGETHER HEALTHIER!

 

Check out Eventbrite for more details:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mental-health-resources-day-tickets-1033767023997

 

To register for the Gratitude Journal Workshop and help ensure we have enough materials to provide to everyone interested in making a Gratitude Journal, please scan or tap this code and sign up:

Gratitude Journal Workshop 2025

For questions, email seanda@creative-mental-health.org.

***Creative Mental Wellness is dedicated to promoting health and wants to expand this event to other cities…but it’s going to take building relationships to achieve such an undertaking.  We don’t want to step on any toes, but we know how important it is to ensure communities have access to & can engage with many mental health/behavioral health/substance use disorder resources in 1 place (rather than having to spend hours or days or months or years trying to learn about what exists in their local communities).  If you are an organization that already hosts a similar event, we would love to discuss partnering with you to build on what you’ve started.  If nothing exists in your area like MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES DAY and you are interested in helping your community to more easily find treatment and support resources for mental health/behavioral health/substance use disorder challenges, we would love to discuss working with you to create & host a similar event to enable a healthier community.  Please reach out on the contact page of this website or via email (seanda@creative-mental-health.org) to get a conversation started about working together to build a healthier community in your area.