Stress Awareness

Hello again, all our wonderful readers! Will find Hope is here to talk about Stress Awareness in the month of April and how we all need to be cognizant of our stress levels. Over 75% of American adults report emotional or physical symptoms plaguing them due to stress. Some of these may be minor at first, such as a lack of sleep, appetite, aches, and pains, or other similar symptoms. But as those symptoms evolve or merge into emotional symptoms: lack of motivation, depression, anxiety, it becomes imperative to check in with yourself on how you can limit stress, or what resources are available to you to assist with your stress. Please continue reading to learn more about available local and online resources that can help with stress management. Local Resources:

• NAMI Will-Grundy: 2000 Glenwood Ave, Ste LL-100

  Joliet, IL 60435: Open Office Hours: Monday 10:00am – 3:00pm

• NAMI Will-Grundy - Support for Mental Health - NAMI Will-Grundy

• Crisis Line of Will and Grundy County: If in Crisis - NAMI Will-Grundy

• Will County Mental Health Hotline: 815-740-4416

All the above resources target your local area and provide a resource you can connect with right this very minute, whether you’re out and about or need the ease of a website or texting. NAMI of Will-Grundy has numerous resources on its website to help manage stress and receive education on the matter if you’re looking to learn more. However, if your current situation is volatile and in need of immediate support, the crisis resource link through NAM I or the Will County Mental Health Hotline is readily available. Even if you feel that you are not in crisis, but you need to talk, we highly encourage clicking the “in crisis " link. There are other resources available, such as the Living Room Program or the Illinois Warm Line, if you just need to talk to someone. Besides these more locally centered resources, we also have a list of online assets you can use to help manage and reduce your stress:

• The Stress Management Society: The Stress Management Society - From Distress to De-Stress

• National Institute of Mental Health: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) - Transforming the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses

• Mental Health America: Home | Mental Health America

Each of these resources can assist by giving you the tools you need to reduce and manage your stress. The Mental Health America link can even screen you for various stress levels or mental health conditions to see where you stand at a baseline. It’s important to break away from the idea that stress is a normal/unavoidable concept in our day-to-day lives. The more you lump stress together within that concept, the more it builds and builds until suddenly you’re very drastically affected by it. Physically, mentally, emotionally, stress can cripple or severely hinder many of these aspects when left unchecked. Will Find Hope encourages all our wonderful readers to take the time to view these resources we’ve listed above. Even if your stress feels minor or not warranting this level of care, take the time to review some of the info. You may find your stress is more easily manageable than you thought, or you may end up in contact with a resource you needed more than you realized. Either way, be kind to yourselves, and know that there are resources available to you, no matter what you may be going through. Stay tuned for more monthly awareness to follow, and please comment below if you have any other resources that you’ve found to be helpful.