this is now my 10th year being a mental health advocate and celebrating mental health awareness month, and the mental health community has come a long way. but it’s time to evolve and stop using the same talking points so we can progress even further. mental health awareness is more than sharing a hotline and checking in on your friends. it’s breaking systemic barriers that prevent people from seeking care. it’s educating people on ALL mental illness, not just depression and anxiety. it’s unlearning language and stigmas attributed to mental health. it’s making sure everyone has their basic needs met in order to live. i could go on. it’s a lot of things and people need to feel more comfortable feeling uncomfortable. mental health and buzzwords adjacent to it have become so mainstream, and we’re seeing a widespread glamorization of mental illness again (on tiktok). advocacy requires doing more than what a majority of the community is doing. i’m over the same rehashed talking points i’...