Mental Health is defined in many ways. Your mental health affects the way you think, feel and behave. Mental Health also determines how we handle stress, communicate with others, how we make choices and react to certain life situations. This page contains some definitions regarding mental health, prevention levels and links to useful resources that may help you better understand mental health and the many aspects of mental health problems and obtaining mental wellness and positive well being.
The link below contains a list of mental health resources available to Jackson County residents, and also describes which level of prevention each would fall under and whether they serve youth, adults or both.
May 2017 Jackson County Mental Health Resource List
Below is the list of prevention levels as mentioned in the link above…
Primary Prevention– Catch the problem early and/or prevent problems before they occur. Examples: seatbelt laws, bike helmets, immunizations, eating well, regular exercise, not smoking, prevention education
Secondary Prevention– Reduce impact of a problem that has already occurred. Detection and treatment. Keeps problems from causing serious or long-term effects or from affecting others. identifies risks or hazards and modifies, removes or treats them before a problem becomes more serious. Examples: regular medical exams and screening to detect diseases early, medication, crisis hot lines, therapy, counseling, prevention education, support groups.
Tertiary Prevention– Limits further negative effects from a problem. It keeps existing problems from getting worse. It alleviates the effects of the problem and restores individuals to their optimal level of functioning. Tertiary prevention is implemented after a problem has occurred. Examples: Chronic Disease management programs, treatment programs, diet & exercise programs, medication, therapy, counseling, support groups, prevention education.
Below are other resources to help you gain a better understanding of mental health…
https://www.mentalhealth.gov/basics/what-is-mental-health/
http://www.nami.org/Learn-More/Mental-Health-Conditions
Together For Jackson County Kids 