Honoring Mental Health Awareness Month

PetSmart is proud to stand United Together for Mental Health Awareness Month.

Mental Health is an essential aspect of overall wellbeing, and especially in the workplace, it deserves more attention. Mental Health Awareness Month is an opportunity to have conversations that normalize proactive self-care, raising awareness about the importance of mental health, and promoting acceptance, support, prevention, and recovery from mental illnesses.

Everyone faces challenges in life that can impact their mental health. In fact, 1 in 5 people will experience a mental illness. Like other aspects of our health, it’s possible to be proactive, and mental health conditions are treatable.

During Mental Health Awareness Month, we invite you to learn more, starting with some key definitions:

• Mental health refers to anyone’s state of mental and emotional wellbeing. It is the foundation for how we function in society and daily activities such as thinking, feeling, communicating, learning, having resilience, and even our own self-esteem.

• Mental illnesses are diagnosable health conditions involving changes in emotion, thinking, and/or behavior. Mental illness can take many forms and occur at any age. Three-fourths of all mental illness begins by age 24.

To support and lean into conversations around mental health and wellbeing, we remind associates about the Benefits available to you every day. For more information on Mental Health Awareness Month, we invite you to visit the month of May on our Belonging Monthly Engagement Fetch Page, including links to our Benefits Page and partner resources such as Ally and Sanvello.

Learning about Mental Health Awareness Month:

Mental Health Awareness Month was established in 1949 in the United States and Puerto Rico, then in 1951 in Canada to increase mental health and wellness awareness.

While Mental Health Awareness Month is celebrated in May, other celebrations occur during October, such as Mental Illness Awareness Week, National Day of Prayer for Mental Illness Recovery, National Depression Screening Day, and World Mental Health Day.

The green ribbon is the international symbol for mental health awareness for all these moments. Some of the efforts to raise awareness this year:

• In the U.S. and PR, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) amplifies the message of “Together for Mental Health.” This theme focuses on bringing our voices together to advocate for mental health and access to care.

• In Canada, the Canadian Mental Health Associate (CHMA) is using #GetReal. This theme prioritizes empathy, the commonalities we experience, being there for each other when times are hard and being ready to listen.

Mental Health Awareness Month inspires us to search beyond what we already know to continue to raise awareness about the differences between mental health and mental illness, as we continue to reduce stigmas related to both. Thank you for joining us.

Board created by PetSmart Customer Engagement Leader, Darin