As Mental Health Awareness Month draws to a close, Keili Trottier, LCMHC and Assistant Director of Outpatient Mental Health at United Counseling Service (UCS), shares some insight on maintaining good mental health that we can carry through the rest of the year. Mental health challenges affect us all in different ways and at different times in our lives, and it is important to remember that no one is alone in their struggle. “Regardless of the mental health challenge you’re talking about, everybody is impacted,” Trottier says.
Recognizing challenges in our community
In our local community of Bennington County, Trottier sees significant levels of anxiety, depression, substance use, and trauma. Genetic, environmental, and situational factors can cause mental health challenges, and their effects can sometimes be felt across generations. Trauma, for example, can alter how the brain responds to stress, keeping the brain’s “fight or flight” system on high alert while making it more difficult to access areas responsible for executive functioning. Executive function helps us regulate emotions, solve problems, make decisions, and manage memory. When these abilities are impaired, individuals may be more vulnerable to challenges such as anxiety and depression.
“When I think about our community,” says Trottier, “I think about so many people who may have experienced trauma, and that affects their mental health to such a tremendous degree, from younger age groups all the way up through. In particular, it impacts how their brains develop.”
Trottier believes that mental health is just like physical health, ever-changing and requiring different types and levels of support throughout our lives. She underlines the importance of prioritizing mental health as part of our whole selves, and not something to be ignored.
Don’t wait for a crisis to ask for help
Regardless of the reasons why they show up, there are ways to manage mental health challenges. According to Trottier, the importance of practicing empathy and reaching out for help when you need it cannot be understated.
“Every single person is going through something,” says Trottier. “We don’t know what’s going on in other people’s lives. My experience has taught me that if people really knew what others were going through and were able to understand that, then they would forgive and have a lot more empathy.”
Along with promoting understanding that others may be struggling, it is important to ask for help. Even if someone knows where to go or who to ask for help, factors like stigma around mental health concerns and shame can get in the way of accessing support.
In Bennington County, UCS is available at 802-442-5491 and offers a variety of services, including substance use services, virtual and in-person outpatient mental health counseling, services for children, youth and families, psychiatric services, 24/7/365 mobile crisis services, and Integrated Crisis Stabilization Services (ICSS) based at the agency’s Battelle House on Dewey Street in Bennington, VT. UCS’ United Children’s Services (UCH) division offers early childhood programs like Head Start and Early Head Start at locations in Bennington, Shaftsbury, North Bennington, and Pownal.
UCS holds Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) trainings that are currently offered free of charge to the community. Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) and Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) trainings teach participants how to identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental health and substance use challenges among adults and youth. Upcoming training dates include July 24, September 18 and November 13. Please visit ucsvt.org/events for more information about MHFA trainings and all upcoming UCS events.
More information about UCS and its programs and services in Bennington County can be found at ucsvt.org.
For those living outside Bennington County, help is still within reach. Individuals can contact the 988 suicide and crisis lifeline, use findtreatment.gov to locate nearby mental health or substance use services, or start by speaking with a trusted healthcare professional, who can help guide them to the support they need.
“I think the most important thing for people to know is that they’re not alone, and that as they navigate through struggling with something, there’s no shame,” says Trottier. “It’s normal for everybody to struggle sometime at some point in their lives. By reaching out for help, whether it’s through UCS, talking to your primary care provider, or even calling 988, just to have someone to talk to that one time—it can make a difference. You don’t have to wait until it’s a crisis.”