Esther Perel Instagram – It’s Mental Health Awareness Month — and I’m called to my annual examination of the state of mental health globally and here in the United States. This year, I was drawn back to a memory that stays with me around how I felt as a parent when my children were struggling in school, as most children do for a period as they grow, evolve, and adjust. In fact, most families go through what they would call “problem years” with their kids. I’m reminded how isolated I felt as we were encouraged to go to therapy, the feelings of shame and embarrassment that emerged as we were encouraged to deal with these universal issues in a silo. If you’ve been following my work, you know that a central tenant is the understanding that the health of our relationships has an incredible impact on our overall health, mental, physical, and emotional. And that healing and problem solving in community has the ability to not only crowdsource solutions and tactics, but also gives us the feeling of relational support that is so vital to our whole-body wellness. A mistake we often make in modern-day society is individualizing and pathologizing these issues in a way that can be quite isolating, and thus exacerbating the problem by hiding and shaming it. Feeling alone while we’re experiencing difficult times intensifies the experience. What I would love to see as a therapist and a mental health professional (and also as a parent) is a new focus and emphasis on relational health and collective healing as a key component of mental wellness—a facet we focus on as intently as we do nutrition, exercise, personal practice, therapy, medication, and the myriad of preventative and symptomatic prescriptions healthcare professionals recommend. Feeling personally and communally supported and connected is a key component to feeling good. I’m curious, as we enter this annual mental health focus, what issues feel most present and important to you? How will you observe this month?