Would you rather get an oil change? Or have to replace your engine? Close your windows before a rain storm, or file a claim for your ruined floors? Every day, without even thinking about it, we perform any number of minor acts of prevention in order to avoid far greater consequences later on. And those small acts are indeed small, precisely for that reason. Prevention is cheap and easy. Treatment is not.
Because prevention is most effectively done early in a process, it stands to reason that preventing mental illness is best done early in life. Prevention programs tend to center around the youth of our community in order to keep mental health concerns like bullying, peer pressure, or dysfunctional family relationships from turning into mental illnesses later on. And the benefit of that prevention is saving hundreds of millions of tax dollars for everyone in Wichita, Sedgwick County, and surrounding areas.
How are mental illnesses prevented? By ensuring that we have what we need to deal with the situations and realities that we face every day. Instead of vitamins and minerals, our mental health needs rely on – for instance – the coping mechanisms needed to remember a traumatic event without emotionally reliving it. Or the cognitive strategies to have a realistic and appropriate self-view. Or the behavioral skills to know how to handle a moment of irrational anxiety.
Having those options in our tool boxes for moments when stressors get the best of us is only possible when you support non-profit mental health organizations that offer services regardless of financial circumstances. Call your local providers today to learn how you can help.
