Rise Up Mental Health Care

11/10/2025

Your healing journey is as unique as your relationship with the one you lost. Grief isn’t linear, and everyone moves through it in their own way.

Join others who are also exploring their paths through grief at a event near you. Register at afsp.org/survivorday

10/03/2025

All ready for trick or treaters at the office with the help of Crown Floral pumpkin head candy dish

09/04/2025

It’s natural to wish for a life without tension, arguments, or setbacks. Many imagine peace as a world free of conflict altogether. But Gandhi reminds us of a deeper truth: “Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it.”

Conflict is part of being human. It shows up in relationships, at work, and even inside our own thoughts. Trying to avoid it completely often leads to more stress and disconnection. Real peace isn’t about running from difficulty—it’s about learning how to meet it with steadiness.

Coping doesn’t mean pretending everything is fine or ignoring what hurts. It means finding tools and practices that help carry the weight in healthier ways. Maybe that’s pausing before reacting, setting boundaries with compassion, or seeking support when the load feels too heavy to manage alone.

When someone learns to cope, conflict no longer feels like a constant threat. It becomes a teacher—an opportunity to grow, to listen, and to respond with intention rather than fear. That’s the kind of peace that lasts: not fragile silence, but resilience in the middle of life’s noise.

09/02/2025

In the middle of a difficult season, it can feel like pain or worry will last forever. The mind starts to believe that the moment someone is in is permanent, that there’s no way forward. But the old Persian proverb reminds us simply: “This too shall pass.”

These four words hold both comfort and perspective. Every storm eventually moves on. Feelings rise, fall, and shift. Circumstances change in ways we can’t always predict. Remembering this truth doesn’t erase the struggle, but it can loosen the heaviness of believing it will always be this way.

“This too shall pass” also speaks to joy and success. Even the brightest moments are fleeting, which is why they are worth noticing and savoring while they’re here. Nothing in life is fixed. Everything moves. That reminder can help people face challenges with patience and gratitude—and appreciate good days with deeper presence.

Mental health work often begins with accepting that both pain and joy are temporary. By holding onto the truth that things will not stay the same, people create space for hope, resilience, and gentleness with themselves in the present moment.

09/01/2025

Plans can be comforting. They give structure, direction, and a sense of control. But sometimes, life doesn’t follow the outline we’ve carefully written. In those moments, Mandy Hale’s words land gently: “You don’t always need a plan. Sometimes you just need to breathe, trust, let go, and see what happens.”

This isn’t about giving up or drifting aimlessly. It’s about softening the grip. When someone is overwhelmed, constantly calculating the next step, or worrying about every outcome, pausing to simply breathe can feel radical. Letting go doesn’t mean ignoring responsibility—it means allowing space for the unknown, and trusting that not every answer needs to be forced right now.

For many, this shift feels uncomfortable at first. The urge to control is strong. Yet often, clarity arrives in the moments when people step back and release the need for certainty. That’s where openness lives, where creativity flows, where healing begins.

Mental health is not about mastering every detail of the future. It’s also about learning to be present enough to breathe, to trust, and to allow life to unfold—even when the plan isn’t clear.

08/29/2025

Sometimes life feels like it’s spinning in a hundred directions at once—work deadlines, family stresses, unexpected setbacks. It’s easy to get caught up in all the things we can’t control. Marcus Aurelius said it best: “You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”

This reminder speaks to something many people forget in the middle of chaos: strength doesn’t come from controlling the world. It comes from noticing the space between what happens and how we respond. That space is where choice lives, and in that choice lies resilience.

A person may not be able to stop the storm outside, but they can decide how they want to meet it. Maybe it’s by slowing down, maybe it’s by reaching out for support, or maybe it’s by simply acknowledging the weight of the moment instead of pushing it away.

Mental health isn’t about perfection or constant calm. It’s about learning to come back to the mind, again and again, when life pulls in other directions. In that return, people discover strength that was there all along.

08/23/2025

07/18/2025

"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant." – Robert Louis Stevenson

There are days when the world feels heavy—when progress seems invisible and efforts appear to go unnoticed. It’s easy to measure worth by what is achieved in the moment: the tasks completed, goals reached, or accolades earned. But this quote invites a shift in perspective—one rooted not in outcomes, but in intention.

From a mental health standpoint, this is a powerful and freeing concept. Not every day will be productive in the traditional sense. Not every day will feel like a win. But that does not mean the day was without value.

Planting seeds can look like many things:
Reaching out to someone, even with just a kind word.
Taking a moment to breathe when stress begins to build.
Setting a boundary that prioritizes well-being.
Starting a journal entry to better understand your thoughts.
Choosing to rest, to recover, to simply be.

These small acts may not offer immediate results, but over time, they grow into something strong and deeply rooted. Healing, growth, and self-compassion are not linear paths—they are cultivated in quiet, persistent ways. On the days that feel like nothing is happening, something is. Foundations are being laid. Seeds are taking root.

Judging a day solely by its harvest can be disheartening. Some seasons yield abundance, others ask for patience. But every seed planted with care is a step forward, even when it’s not yet visible.

Let this be an encouragement to give yourself grace. To acknowledge your efforts even when they don't bear fruit right away. To trust that meaningful change often begins beneath the surface.

Keep planting—quietly, kindly, and consistently. The harvest will come. 🌾

07/16/2025

“The best way out is always through.” – Robert Frost

There is a quiet wisdom in these few words—one that resonates deeply with anyone walking the winding path of healing, growth, or self-understanding.

Life has a way of presenting challenges that feel insurmountable. Pain, grief, anxiety, uncertainty—they arrive uninvited, demanding more than anyone ever feels ready to give. In those moments, the instinct to retreat or avoid is only human. Who wouldn’t want to skip the hard parts, to find a shortcut, or to press pause until things make sense again?

And yet, experience and reflection often reveal a different truth: the only lasting way forward is through.

“Through” means sitting with discomfort rather than pushing it away. It means acknowledging emotions that don’t have tidy explanations. It means waking up each day and choosing to face what hurts, even when every part of the heart says otherwise. It’s about letting the process of healing unfold at its own pace—not rushed, not avoided, but met with honesty and compassion.

This path—while difficult—is where strength is built. Not the loud, performative kind, but the quiet resilience that grows in the unseen moments of perseverance. Walking through pain allows transformation. With time, what once felt like a wall becomes a mirror, revealing a deeper capacity for courage, understanding, and empathy.

Mental health journeys are rarely linear. There will be progress, setbacks, and days that feel like standing still. But none of it is wasted. Every step through—no matter how small—is movement. It is presence. It is proof that the situation doesn’t define the outcome; the decision to face it does.

So if the days feel heavy, if the road ahead seems unclear, let this quote serve as a gentle reminder: the path through is not meant to be perfect, but it is sacred. Every moment of facing what is, rather than running from it, carries meaning. There is strength in staying. There is courage in feeling. And there is profound healing in choosing to walk through.

May those on difficult paths find both grace and hope in the process.

07/14/2025

“Even if we don’t have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there.” — Stephen Chbosky

This quote has been resonating deeply with us lately. It’s a gentle but powerful reminder that while we can’t change our past, we do have agency in how we move forward.

For so many of us, our stories begin in places we didn’t choose. Maybe you grew up in a household that struggled with emotional connection. Maybe you experienced trauma, loss, or instability early in life. Or perhaps you simply weren’t given the tools to understand your mental and emotional wellbeing. Those beginnings can feel like they define us, like they set the course of our lives in concrete.

But they don’t have to.

One of the bravest things a person can do is decide to take ownership of their future—even if their past felt out of their control. Healing is not about erasing where we’ve been. It’s about learning to navigate forward with the experiences we've had, and still believing in the possibility of peace, purpose, and joy.

Mental health isn’t a straight line. There will be setbacks. There will be days where old wounds reopen. But every step toward self-awareness, every moment we choose to show up for ourselves—whether through therapy, setting boundaries, journaling, taking a walk, or simply resting—is a step toward a future we do get to shape.

We want you to know: You are not defined by where you come from. You are not your pain. You are not your diagnosis. You are not your mistakes. You are not your circumstances.

You are your strength.
You are your resilience.
You are your potential.
You are your next decision.

If today is hard, that’s okay. Be kind to yourself. But remember this: Every moment gives us a new opportunity to take even the smallest step in a different direction.

Wherever you are right now, you can still choose where you go from here. And that choice? That’s powerful.

We’d love to hear: What’s one way you’ve chosen to take your story in a new direction?

07/12/2025

Doing Your Best Will Look Different Every Day

This is your gentle reminder that your best is not a fixed standard. It changes. It evolves. And that’s not only okay—it’s human.

Some days, your best might look like crossing off every item on your to-do list, showing up for others, being productive, and feeling in control. Other days, your best might be getting out of bed. Brushing your teeth. Taking a deep breath and choosing to keep going, even when the weight of anxiety, depression, burnout, or overwhelm feels like too much.

Please hear this: both of those days count as doing your best.

Mental health is not linear. Healing, growing, and simply existing in a world that often demands constant output takes courage. And on the days when you feel like you're falling short, remember that energy, focus, and emotional bandwidth fluctuate—just like the weather. Just like the seasons.

There is strength in resting.
There is progress in pausing.
There is courage in being honest with yourself about what you can do today—and letting that be enough.

We live in a culture that glorifies hustle and perfection, but real life is not always tidy or high-performing. Sometimes, doing your best means showing up late. Asking for help. Saying no. Taking a nap. Saying, “Today, this is all I’ve got.”

If no one’s told you lately: That is enough. You are enough.

Let’s be kinder to ourselves. Let’s hold space for the ebbs as much as the flows. Let’s celebrate the quiet victories—like choosing rest over guilt, or self-compassion over self-criticism.

Your best today might not look like your best yesterday. And that doesn't mean you're failing—it means you're adapting, surviving, living.

You are allowed to be a work in progress and still be worthy of love, respect, and rest.