NO SHAME MENTAL GAINS WELCOMES YOU
Your Mind Matters
Support “NoShameMentalGains” and a portion of profits will be used or donated to promote suicide prevention, mental health awareness and scholarships to off set cost for therapy
WHAT IS NO SHAME MENTAL GAINS?
No Shame Mental Gains is a platform that hosts people from all over the world; athletes, entertainers, doctors, businessmen, entrepreneurs, college students, high school students, professors, coaches, moms, dads and more. No Shame Mental Gains was created to provide a platform for psycho education on basic mental health topics, in efforts to normalize unfamiliar concepts and also promote the benefits of therapy, self-care and mindfulness tools, or other appropriate interventions. The No Shame Mental Gains platform allows guests to share their thoughts and experiences related to mental health. My goal ultimately is to support and encourage people to “silence the shame” and to reach out for the help they may need. In addition, No Shame Mental Gains empowers guests and viewers by equipping them to take better care of themselves and others. It is important to begin building mindful bridges for increased awareness that promotes an improved quality of life.
No Shame Mental Gains Mission Statement:
Our mission is to define and expand mental health awareness. We also strive to normalize symptoms, diagnosis, treatments, and interventions in order to reduce the shame and negative stigma often associated with mental health challenges. Ultimately the goal is to provide education, information and resources for college students, athletes and other young adults to reduce the potential negative impact on individuals who experience mild to moderate mental health challenges, which otherwise become barriers to productivity and well-being.
WHO AM I?
My name is Darius K. Henderson and I am from Los Angeles CA, near Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw District to be more exact. I am a full-time college student athlete with a bachelor’s of science degree in Psychology and am currently pursuing a graduate degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling/MFT.
HOW I FIRST DISCOVERED THE IMPORTANCE OF MENTAL HEALTH?
Like most people, my earliest experiences and exposures to mental health occurred all around me in my own community; with family members and friends. During childhood and adolescence, I recall witnessing behaviors and symptoms that I can easily identify now as being associated with life stressors that often impact the quality of mental health. Most typical life stressors are related to experiences of loss, grief, anxiety, depression and/or trauma. As an adolescent, I recall a short period of time when my own emotions were “flat” and muted. During this time, I couldn’t even feel angry when things were upsetting to me, and things that would normally make me feel happiest no longer had a positive impact. I remember dragging through the days and even the simplest tasks, getting out of bed and getting dressed would take 5 times longer than normal. I now recognize that these were symptoms of other issues that were impacting my overall mental health. Many adolescents and young adults experience mild symptoms of depression.
WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO RAISE AWARENESS?
I think it is important to raise awareness because I believe that every person on earth will, at some point(s) during their life, have personal encounters involving symptoms of mental health and/or have occasion to witness symptoms in others: family, friends or community members. Having a healthy awareness and familiarity with information and treatment resources about mental health is very important. As we all strive to live our “best lives” day to day, we are also forced to deal with predictable and unpredictable stressful circumstances, which means it is almost inevitable that we will all, at some point, come face to face with mental health challenges that will need to be appropriately managed.
Being a person of color, a male and also born and raised in a fast-paced urban community, I have come to realize that there are many negative stigmas and tons of miseducation around topics related to mental health. The term mental health alone is often a taboo in most communities of color, including a majority of folks from Black and African American families. The term mental health is often associated with deficit and is a negative trigger word, believed to be synonymous with “crazy” or a person assumed to have a “weak mind”. It is for these reasons that it is extremely important to promote opportunities for improved awareness about mental health and to increase access to resources for maintenance and managing mental health. This is important to have for “best life” experiences, similar to strategies that help maintain optimal physical health.
Unfortunately, being vulnerable is not easy. It’s a challenge to open up during times of compromised mental health, particularly when symptoms are debilitating and shame or fear sabotage the potential for getting help. Symptoms related to anxiety, depression, traumatic stress, and other mental health diagnosis are most often suppressed or dismissed as signs of weakness. Many people (men especially) are not even aware of or able to accurately identify their own emotions and feelings. Suppressed emotions often give rise to counter-productive or irrational behaviors such as lashing out, conforming to the use of drugs and alcohol or other nonproductive outlets that only distract or, at best, temporarily suppress mental health challenges that will later become more and more detrimental when these raw emotions are ignored.
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