Take Back Your Life from Mental Illness: Volunteer

HealthyPlace Mental Health Newsletter

Here's what's happening on the HealthyPlace site this week:

• Take Back Your Life from Mental Illness: Volunteer
• From the HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs
• Video: What is it Like Living with Bipolar 2?
• Most Popular HealthyPlace Articles Shared by Facebook Fans
• Mental Health Quote

Take Back Your Life from Mental Illness: Volunteer

Mental illness messes with lives. It can make the basic tasks of living seem impossibly difficult, and it can interfere with relationships. Mental illness can even make it hard to find or maintain employment. If mental illness has disrupted your life, consider volunteer work to reclaim your life, your passions, and yourself.

It's not uncommon for people living with mental illness to become isolated and feel alone. Frequently, people hate this isolation and loneliness but have difficulty overcoming it thanks to symptoms, effects of stigma, and more. Here's why volunteering works to break free from the trap in which mental illness tries to keep you. Volunteering:

• allows you to work toward mental health goals at your own pace. It's a safe way to step out.
• involves action. Thoughts and emotions imprison. Taking action, doing something in spite of everything, is what lets you work past them.
• builds routine. Mental illness can turn your world upside down. Having something regular to do at a set time, even if it's just once a month, helps you re-establish a routine.
• provides a sense of purpose. Helping others often brings personal satisfaction and pride in having made a difference.

Interested in volunteering? Check local community centers, religious organizations, mental health organizations, humane societies, or other groups to discover opportunities

Related Articles Dealing with Mental Illness and Volunteering

• How Volunteer Activities Build Self-Esteem
• Volunteerism
• How to Become a Suicide Hotline Volunteer
• How to Start Socializing When You Have Low Self-Esteem

Your Thoughts

Today's Question: In what ways has doing volunteer work helped your mental health? We invite you to participate by commenting and sharing your feelings, experiences and knowledge on the HealthyPlace Facebook page and on the HealthyPlace Google+ page.

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From the HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs

On all our blogs, your comments and observations are welcomed.

• How to Self-Diagnose an Alcohol Addiction
• Why Representation is Important in Destigmatizing Mental Illness
• Body Type and Binge Eating Disorder: Every Body Is Different
• How to Stop Feeling Overwhelmed and Take Control of Your Life
• New Year’s Resolutions that Can Help Bipolar Disorder
• Identifying and Tracking Bipolar Symptoms
• When Do You Need Anxiety Help?
• Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) Doesn’t Make You Violent

Feel free to share your thoughts and comments at the bottom of any blog post. And visit the mental health blogs homepage for the latest posts.

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From HealthyPlace YouTube Channel

What is it Like Living with Bipolar 2?

What is it like living with bipolar 2 disorder? What has life been like living with bipolar 2? These are two questions I receive and struggle to answer because I do not know what life is like living without bipolar depression. The mood swings, the intense emotions, and wild imagination are elements of my life that I have grown to accept as a part of me.

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Most Popular HealthyPlace Articles Shared by Facebook Fans

Here are the top 3 mental health articles HealthyPlace Facebook fans are recommending you read:

1. Can Anxiety Disorders Come from a Traumatic Brain Injury?
2. Bipolar Symptoms: Psychomotor Agitation
3. Do the Effects of Abuse Change You Permanently?

If you're not already, I hope you'll join us/like us on Facebook too. There are a lot of wonderful, supportive people there.

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Mental Health Quote

"When she is happy, she can't stop talking. When she is sad, she doesn't say a word".

Read more bipolar quotes.

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That's it for now. If you know of anyone who can benefit from this newsletter or the HealthyPlace.com site, I hope you'll pass this onto them. You can also share the newsletter on any social network (like facebook, stumbleupon, or google+) you belong to by clicking the links below. For updates throughout the week, circle HealthyPlace on Google+, follow HealthyPlace on Twitter or become a fan of HealthyPlace on Facebook. Also, check out HealthyPlace on Pinterest and share your mental health pins on our Share Your Mental Health Experiences board.

back to: HealthyPlace.com Mental-Health Newsletter Index