As a college student who suffered from insomnia, it has been a tough fight for me to show up and pay attention in class. I tried all of the resources that my school offered: I went to counseling, I met with a psychiatrist, I took prescribed medication. However, most of the time the medication I was taking was too sedating. It left me feeling groggy and I had trouble concentrating. There was one thing, though, that every doctor I saw has emphasized: practicing good sleep hygiene. If you are able to practice sleep hygiene, it is definitely essential to helping improve your sleep habits, as well as sleep quality. Check out our article on sleep hygiene for more information.
Love is Louder (LIL) is a movement of hundreds of thousands people to send the message of love and address issues like bullying, discrimination or depression.
LIL participants include schools, communities, individuals and families. They use arts to raise the perception that love and support are much louder than the internal voice and external biases that affect oneself in a negative way.
LIL is one of the many projects of the JED Foundation, founded by a couple of loving parents, Donna and Phil Sawtow, who lost their son, Jed, to suicide. The program’s mission is to promote mental health protection and prevent suicide among college and university students.
As a college student who suffered from mental illness, The Jed Foundation provided me immediate and extensive support on their website. For example, ULife is a connected program which provides confidential screenings and discreet counseling. To see that I am not alone in the mental health battle and that many people care about me has helped me through such a tough period.
For parents, I think JED is a valuable source of news that equips you with the mentality and resources that will help your children with their mental crisis.
Have you checked out the JED Foundation? Are the knowledge and resources provided in the website helpful to you? Keep in mind that you are not alone and there is support everywhere if you need it.
