May is known as Mental Health Month and the Anson County Health Department is supporting Mental Health Awareness by wearing green, and offering a free meditation session May 29 from 3 to 4 p.m.
In a news release, Dinikia Savage, the public health educator, said, “Mental health is an important part of overall health and well-being. Mental health refers to how we think, behave and feel. An individual’s mental health can change over time from several things. For example, working long hours or caring for an ill relative may have an impact on your mental health.”
Anson County provides mental health services through Daymark Recovery Services and Sandhillls Center.
Daymark serves individuals living with mental health, developmental disabilities and substance abuse problems. The services provided include crisis services, clinical assessments, outpatient individual therapy, outpatient group therapy, outpatient family therapy, psychiatric evaluations, medication management, substance abuse services, intensive in-home, ACCTT services and case management.
“Sandhills Center’s mission is to develop, manage and assure that persons in need have access to quality mental health, intellectual/developmental disabilities and substance abuse services,” Savage said in the release.
She also said mindfulness meditation helps ease mental health conditions like depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder; and changes the brain and the way the body responds to stress.
According to the release, mental illnesses are among the most common health conditions in the United States. More than 50 percent of people will be diagnosed with a mental illness, or a mental disorder at some point of their life.
“There is no single cause for the development of mental illness,” Savage said. “There are many things that can contribute to mental illness such as life experiences, ongoing medical conditions, biological reasons, alcohol or recreational drug use, and isolation.”
The release stated that suicide is often related to symptoms of mental illness.
To schedule an appointment for Daymark Recovery Services call 704-794-6588 Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The office is at 704 Old Lilesville Road in Wadesboro.
To schedule an appointment for Sandhills Center call 704-465-2737. The office is located at 303 E. View St. in Wadesboro. Information is available at 800-266-2452.
Savage can be contacted at 704-994-3342, or by going to the Health Department at 110 Ashe St. in Wadesboro.