May is Mental Health Awareness Month! In the midst of the COVID-19 global crisis, we know that mental health resources are necessary now more than ever. And it is the mental health professionals across the globe who are on the front lines caring for an increased number of patients suffering from anxiety, stress, and depression as a result of this global pandemic. To recognize and celebrate our own Behavioral Health team’s efforts, we will be profiling one of our clinicians each week in the month of May.
Meet Anna Kuzmenko, LMHC
Why did you pursue a career into mental health?
I don’t have any particular story or moment that drew me to mental health. Ever since I was a child, I was always drawn to human behavior and wanting to understand people better. I was interested in thrillers and mysteries and became intrigued with criminal profiling and forensic psychology. Once in college, I started to take courses in Psychology and found them to be exciting and interesting. I eventually realized I wanted to be a therapist, particularly helping young adults and families. Plus, I soon found out how hard it was to become part of the Quantico team!
What does Mental Health Awareness Month mean to you?
Mental Health Month is a fantastic way to highlight mental health and remind people it’s okay. It’s okay to talk about, okay to think about, and okay to support one another about. We should feel comfortable addressing it publicly and not be nervous or embarrassed to bring up topics such as depression, anxiety, or simply feeling sad. Mental Health Month reminds society that mental illness doesn’t affect a certain group of people, far from our inner circle, but that mental illness can affect anyone. It’s also not just about having or not having a mental illness, per se, but it’s even more about recognizing and accepting mental health and even managing our own self-care, which everyone should be doing!
What do you think will be different because of COVID-19?
In the current age of COVID, mental health has really been in the forefront of major media outlets and culture. Everyone is now talking about isolation, grief, mourning, sadness, anxiety; words that were not used as frequently or with such ease. But now in this heightened state of uncertainty, it is widely accepted that everyone could possibly be experiencing these feelings. It’s a step forward in destigmatizing the feelings of loneliness and anxiety that many people manage daily, because now we’re all feeling it! It’s allowing society as a whole, publicly and privately, to talk about mental health without hesitation or fear of being different. We are all, for better or worse, in it together and coping together.
At Eden Health, we recognize the elevated stress and anxiety people are facing with the world’s current state of uncertainty around COVID-19. Please check out our list of mental health resources below designed to help you and your teams recognize and manage stress and anxiety in the workplace.
- Read our blog on A Guide to Managing Stress and Anxiety from Our Therapists
- Hear from our other mental health clinicians featured for Mental Health Month: Rachelle Scott, MD
- Read our blog on COVID-19 and Mental Health in the Workplace
- Watch this on demand webinar Rock star to Rock bottom: Preventing employee burnout in stressful times
- Download the Employee Burnout Checklist
- Read our blog on 7 Ways to Build Company Culture While Working from Home
We know mental health is important and that’s why it’s a critical part of our complete, integrated care solution. To learn more about Eden Health and what we can do for you and your employees, contact us at sales@edenhealth.com.
