Lawton Therapist speaks on Mental Health Awareness Month

LAWTON, Okla. (KSWO) - The start of May brought the start of Mental Health Awareness Month.

“If you’re physically healthy then you probably have some sort of routine or regiment that you do. You probably wake up and have a healthy breakfast and go for a walk. Mental health is equivalent to that so it’s like having a check in,” said Smith.

Cartessa Smith, a local licensed therapist for Amity Counseling, said mental health issues can affect anyone.

“The stigma around mental health likes to present this image of it only being a specific type of person or someone that is going through a rough time or maybe down on their luck, but mental health affects all of us everyday,” Smith said.

Smith also added mental health is often overlooked because people associate their issues with everyday life problems.

“If you don’t take care of it initially it will continue to snowball, have that snowball effect. Then before you know it, it’s going to manifest in different ways. It can have the potential of really, really impacting your life,” said Smith.

Physical exercise is a common method people use to boost their confidence. Adam McBride is the owner of Gramz Fitness.

“It increases your ability to talk to yourself in a positive light,” McBride said. “The more good things you do for yourself, counting the small wins the better conversation you’ll have in your head with yourself. You’re not negative with yourself.”

If you’re not a fan of the gym there are plenty of other ways you can keep your mental health on a positive level.

Smith said, “It just depends on who you are and what you want to do to be happy. Hobbies, great go, children, wonderful. Children can also be stressors so it just depends on the individual person.”

Smith encouraged people to use the month of May as an opportunity to check on their loved ones and ask them how they’re doing.