Mental Health Reset Challenge for Mental Health Awareness Month

Let’s talk about mental health.

We do that quite a bit already, but Mental Health Awareness Month provides a great opportunity to step back and get a look at the bigger picture. And that bigger picture is worrying, to say the least.

The state of mental health in the U.S. has only continued to decline as we deal with the lingering effects of the pandemic, worries over foreign relations, and rising prices of everything from a gallon of milk to housing. Currently, 55% of U.S. adults report feeling stressed during the day, and one in five report experiencing some sort of mental illness. Despite the prevalence of mental health issues in the country, though, over half of adults do not receive much-needed treatment. 

And access to mental healthcare just isn’t equitable. Only one in three Black Americans and Hispanics with mental health needs receive care, as well as only one in five Asian Americans. And according to Mental Health America, “In a survey of LGBTQ+ people, more than half of all respondents reported that they have faced cases of providers denying care, using harsh language, or blaming the patient’s sexual orientation or gender identity as the cause for an illness.”

The many conversations around mental health that have happened over the past few years have done a lot to bring education and support to a wider audience, but clearly we still have a long way to go when it comes to breaking the stigma of accessing mental health care and ensuring that access is equitable. 

So why is a CBD company talking about mental health? 

It’s simple. We’re first and foremost a wellness company, and as a wellness company we believe in a holistic approach to supporting our bodies and minds. And if we want to move the needle on the state of mental health in the U.S. in a positive direction, we need to keep talking and keep bringing tools and resources for managing our mental health to the forefront.

This is why we’re kicking off a two-week mental health reset challenge during the month of May - to help introduce healthy habits, give us all a few moments to pause and tune back in with ourselves, and provide an online community for support. Each weekday during the challenge will begin with a breathing exercise, feature one simple activity for you to complete during the day, and end with a breathing exercise. A downloadable calendar of each day’s activities is available here.

Joining the challenge is simple - just follow along with us on Instagram to be part of the conversation. But hey, if social media isn’t your thing, that’s fine too! You can still download the calendar and complete the day’s activities along with us. Just make sure to check out our post on breathwork exercises (featuring specially curated exercises by expert Jesse Coomer!) to get the most out of your breathwork practice during the challenge.

…and we’re sweetening the deal with some self-care goodies, as a treat.

As part of the two-week challenge, we’re very excited to run a giveaway for a self-care package! One winner will receive a CBD package including Adaptive Stress CBD Soft Gels (30 ct), Uplift CBG + CBD Oil, Downshift CBN + CBD Oil, and CBD Gummies (30 ct), plus a FREE signed copy of Jesse Coomer’s book, A Practical Guide to Breathwork.

Here’s how enter:⁠

1) Follow us @bluebirdbotanicals⁠ and Jesse Coomer @jessecoomerbreath on Instagram

2) Leave a comment on our Instagram feed on the day’s activity post (May 9-20) letting us know you’ve completed the mental health activity

3) And that’s it! 

Want to increase your chances of winning? For an extra TWO entries to the giveaway, just create a post, reel, or story on Instagram about participating in the day’s activity and tag us⁠!⁠

**Contest closes at 11:59 p.m. MT on Monday, May 23, 2022. Winner will be announced publicly on our Instagram feed following the random drawing and shipping address confirmation. Open to U.S. residents only (excluding Hawaii, Louisiana, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Utah) ages 18 and older. This giveaway is not sponsored, endorsed, or associated with Instagram in any way.⁠

At the end of the day, we’re also realistic.

Sometimes, factors outside of our control affect our mental health in such a way that even healthy habits just aren’t quite enough to solve them - and in those cases, we often need the support of mental health professionals. So during this challenge, we’ll also highlight specific resources, organizations, and nonprofits that are doing the important work of supporting mental health and promoting equitable access to mental health care.

At the end of the day, we hope that this challenge will help give you some new tools and resources to help support your mental health, get us all talking about the importance of maintaining our mental health, and introduce you to some organizations that are doing critical work in this area.

Be well, Bluebird flock. 💙