Mental Health Awareness Month - What does it mean to care for my well-being?
Mental Health Awareness Month - What does it mean to care for my well-being?
May is Mental Health Awareness Month—a time to recognize the importance of mental well-being and advocate for access to care, support systems, and culturally responsive resources. This month raises awareness about mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Though often invisible, these conditions can profoundly affect how individuals think, feel, and behave. Symptoms may include persistent sadness, mood swings, social withdrawal, changes in sleep and appetite, intrusive thoughts, and difficulty concentrating.
For Native American and Alaska Native (NA/AN) communities, the impact of mental health disparities is especially significant. Legacies of historical trauma—including forced displacement, boarding school abuse, loss of land and language, and ongoing systemic inequities—continue to influence community well-being today. Native populations experience disproportionately high rates of PTSD, depression, suicide, and substance use disorders compared to other racial and ethnic groups in the United States. According to the Indian Health Service (IHS), suicide rates among Native youth are nearly 2.5 times higher than the national average.
Barriers to mental health care in Native communities include limited access to culturally competent providers, underfunded health systems, stigma, and Western diagnostic frameworks that often overlook Indigenous worldviews and collective healing practices. In rural and reservation-based areas, geographic isolation further reduces access to behavioral health services.
Where do I go from here? What are Native-led resources?
Effective care often combines therapy, community support, and, when needed, medication. Evidence-based treatments like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and trauma-informed care can be helpful. However, for Native communities, healing is often most powerful when rooted in cultural values, ceremonies, and traditional knowledge.
Several Native-led organizations are meeting these needs through culturally grounded mental health services. For example:
One Sky Center is a national resource center led by Indigenous health professionals that provides policy guidance, clinical training, and support specific to NA/AN behavioral health.
We R Native, a multimedia health resource for Native youth, promotes mental health and well-being through storytelling, peer networks, and positive youth development grounded in Indigenous identity.
Indigenous Circle of Wellness and Therapy for Indigenous Communities provide counseling and support services that center on culture, language, and land-based healing.
Caring for your mental health isn’t just a personal act—it’s a collective one. Healing happens in relationship with community, tradition, and self.
