When we think of taking care of ourselves, we often think of eating healthy and exercising. However, it is very easy to overlook a crucial part of taking care of ourselves: mental health. These days, it is even more important to take care of our minds as we deal with an ever-changing world. Whether you are in a stressful period of time or just want to improve your mental wellness, this list gives some resources that can help you get into a healthy mental wellness routine. Each resource focuses on a technique or techniques for managing stress, anxiety, or other negative emotions in order to have a healthy mental state.
All the eResources listed below can be found at the library through our electronic resources and can be accessed if you have a library card. The videos listed are hosted on Kanopy, our video streaming service. On Kanopy you have 10 checkouts per month which are used once you hit the play button of a video. The checkouts, called play credits, are refilled at the beginning of the month. You can download Kanopy links for mobile and Roku devices here: https://laportelibrary.org/library-online/stream-download/. For a Kanopy web link for a computer, click the picture of Kanopy at the bottom of the page by the links. You can read the eBooks and eAudiobooks for free with our Libby and Overdrive apps, which you can download links for here: https://laportelibrary.org/library-online/stream-download/. There is no limit to the number of eBooks and eAudiobooks you can check out on Libby or Overdrive. Read on to discover just some of the mental wellness resources available to you!
Practicing Mindfulness: An Introduction to Meditation Course (Kanopy 24 episode series)
In recent decades, science has confirmed that meditation, when correctly practiced, offers lasting benefits for your physical, mental, and emotional health. Gain a clear understanding of the essence of meditation-and how best to practice it-in 24 lessons filled with guided exercises, principles and techniques, and more.
Practicing Meditation (Kanopy video- 28 minutes)
Taking the mindful approach a step further, Dr. Bauer provides you with an insightful examination of meditation. In addition to reviewing the multitude of benefits that meditation can provide as both a coping strategy and a preventive measure, Dr. Bauer walks you through a number of steps you can take to help establish a successful meditation session so you can make the most of this practice.
Mindful Me: Mindfulness and Meditation for Kids by Whitney Stewart (eBook)
Sometimes kids’ lives can get busy and out of control, and worries can take over. When that happens, knowing how to pause and regain composure with mindfulness can help! This easily digestible guide introduces kids to mindfulness as a way to find clarity, manage stress, handle difficult emotions, and navigate personal challenges. With step-by-step instructions to over thirty breathing, relaxation, and guided meditation exercises, readers will have an entire toolkit at their disposal, and writing prompts will help them process their discoveries. Clearly written and incredibly relatable, this invaluable resource provides a positive introduction to the world of self-care and mindfulness.
Yoga For Health Series (Kanopy- 13 video series)
Yoga is an ancient Indian form of balancing mind and body through breath control and a series of asanas. It aims to attain the unity of mind, body, and spirit through asanas, breathing, and meditation. Asanas are gentle stretching movements designed to rejuvenate the brain, spine, glands, and internal organs. They work by increasing the blood and oxygen supply to these areas by stimulating them with a gentle squeezing action. Asanas help to relax the body and mind together. Stretching helps to relax and tone the muscles to improve circulation, to regain the vital force or energy, lose or gain weight, feel and look young and improve concentration.
Chair Yoga (Kanopy video)
For those of us with limited mobility, yoga on a floor mat can seem like an activity that we’re better off skipping. But in this fun exercise session, you’ll discover how you can still perform basic yoga routines to work your whole body all from the ease and accessibility of a chair.
Yoga for Depression and Anxiety (Kanopy video- 29 minutes)
Examine how mindful, moving yoga can help interrupt the physical and psychological habits that lead to depression. Focus on sun salutations, a series of movements and poses linked by one breath per move. Perform the classic sun salutation, and then Surya namaskar A and B.
Stress Management: Approaches and Cautions (Kanopy video)
Exercise. Meditation. Social support. Religious beliefs. In this concluding episode, learn how these and other outlets can potentially help you manage life’s everyday stressors: both biologically and psychologically. Regardless of how many stressors you deal with daily, all of us, according to Professor Sapolsky, has the potential to keep them in perspective.
Emergency Stress Management (Kanopy video- 32 minutes)
Get a powerful toolkit for dealing with the stress of life-and-death situations while you’re still cultivating a long-term approach to stress management. Exercises you’ll learn including breathing strategies to stay centered, staying happy in order to regain a sense of self-control, and avoiding the dangerous cognitive distortion of catastrophizing.
The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living by Meik Wiking (eBook)
Why are Danes the happiest people in the world? The answer, says Meik Wiking, CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen, is Hygge. Loosely translated, Hygge–pronounced Hoo-ga–is a sense of comfort, togetherness, and well-being. “Hygge is about an atmosphere and an experience,” Wiking explains. “It is about being with the people we love. A feeling of home. A feeling that we are safe.”
Hygge is the sensation you get when you’re cuddled up on a sofa, in cozy socks under a soft throw, during a storm. It’s that feeling when you’re sharing comfort food and easy conversation with loved ones at a candlelit table. It is the warmth of morning light shining just right on a crisp blue-sky day. The Little Book of Hygge introduces you to this cornerstone of Danish life and offers advice and ideas on incorporating it into your own life
Managing Your Depression: What You Can Do to Feel Better by Susan J. Noonan (eBook)
As a physician who personally suffers from depression, Susan J. Noonan draws on her own expertise and empathy to create a guide for people who suffer from the disease. Explaining the basics of mental health–including sleep hygiene, diet and nutrition, exercise, routine and structure, and avoiding isolation–Managing Your Depression empowers people to participate in their own care, offering them a better chance of getting, and staying, well. Noonan’s depression management strategies draw on the best available educational resources, psychoeducational programs, seminars, expert health care providers, and patient experiences.
The book is specifically designed to be highly readable for people who are finding it difficult to focus and concentrate during an episode of depression. Cognitive exercises and daily worksheets help track progress and response to therapy and provide valuable information for making treatment decisions. A relapsing and remitting condition, depression affects nearly 15 percent of people in the United States. Managing Your Depression will bring depression management strategies to people who do not have access to mental health programs or who want to learn new skills.
It’s OK That You’re Not OK: Meeting Grief and Loss in a Culture That Doesn’t Understand by Megan Devine (eBook)
Challenging conventional wisdom on grief, a pioneering therapist offers a new resource for those experiencing loss When a painful loss or life-shattering event upends your world, here is the first thing to know: there is nothing wrong with grief. “Grief is simply love in its most wild and painful form,” says Megan Devine. “It is a natural and sane response to loss.” So, why does our culture treat grief like a disease to be cured as quickly as possible? In It’s OK That You’re Not OK, Megan Devine offers a profound new approach to both the experience of grief and the way we try to help others who have endured tragedy. Having experienced grief from both sides as both a therapist and as a woman who witnessed the accidental drowning of her beloved partner, Megan writes with deep insight about the unspoken truths of loss, love, and healing. She debunks the culturally prescribed goal of returning to a normal, “happy” life, replacing it with a far healthier middle path, one that invites us to build a life alongside grief rather than seeking to overcome it. In this compelling and heartfelt book, you’ll learn: Why well-meaning advice, therapy, and spiritual wisdom so often end up making it harder for people in grief; How challenging the myths of grief, doing away with stages, timetables, and unrealistic ideals about how grief should unfold allows us to accept grief as a mystery to be honored instead of a problem to solve; Practical guidance for managing stress, improving sleep, and decreasing anxiety without trying to “fix” your pain; How to help the people you love with essays to teach us the best skills, checklists, and suggestions for supporting and comforting others through the grieving process. Many people who have suffered a loss feel judged, dismissed, and misunderstood by a culture that wants to “solve” grief. Megan writes, “Grief no more needs a solution than love needs a solution.” Through stories, research, life tips, and creative and mindfulness-based practices, she offers a unique guide through an experience we all must face in our personal lives, in the lives of those we love, and in the wider world. It’s OK That You’re Not OK is a book for grieving people, those who love them, and all those seeking to love themselves and each other better.
Hotlines to know:
Sometimes, we need a helping hand, especially when we are in crisis. The hotlines listed below specialize in giving help and resources during mental health and mental health-adjacent crises.
National Alliance for Mental Health (NAMI) Hotline: 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or info@nami.org
The NAMI HelpLine can be reached Monday through Friday, 10 am–6 pm, ET
Email help: info@nami.org
https://www.nami.org/help
National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-273-8255
Available 24/7
English, Spanish, Hard of hearing
Online chat and information: https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/
Domestic Abuse Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 or text 1-800-787-3224 for TTY (Talk to you text service)
Available 24/7
English and Spanish on website
Online chat and other information: https://www.thehotline.org/
Child Protective Services: 1-800-800-5556
Available 24 hours
https://www.in.gov/dcs/2398.htm
Trevor Project (Suicide prevention for LGBTQ+ Youth) Hotline:
1-866-488-7386 or text START to 678678
Available 24/7
Online chat and information: https://www.thetrevorproject.org/get-help-now/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIreHQubjw6AIVnvrjBx04zQNKEAAYASABEgJBHvD_BwE
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSA) Hotline:
1-800-662-4357 (also known as the Treatment Referral Routing Service) or TTY (talk to you): 1-800-487-4889
English and Spanish
Available 24/7
https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/national-helpline
Indiana Addiction Hotline: 1-800-662-HELP (4357)
Available 24/7
Click here for live chat help: https://www.in.gov/fssa/dmha/2933.htm
Alcoholics Anonymous:
Online meetings for Northern Indiana: https://www.area22indiana.org/meetings-online/
AA of La Porte County 24 hr answering service: (219) 844-6695
Dunes House (Michigan City) Help Hotline and in-person meeting list: (800) 383-3525 http://duneshouse.org/meetings.html
Problem Gambling Hotline: 1-800-9-WITH-IT (1-800-994-8448)
https://www.in.gov/igc/problemgamblinghelp/2332.htm
