Breaking the Silence: Mental Health Awareness Month

Each May, Mental Health Awareness Month offers us a moment to pause, reflect, and reconnect with an often-overlooked part of our well-being: our mental health. At LiveWell Psychology, Dr. Jessica Tomasula witnesses firsthand the courage it takes for someone to walk into our office and share the private, unspoken battles they’ve been carrying. And all too often, that courage has had to fight its way past shame, judgment, and silence.

Stigma remains one of the most formidable barriers to seeking help. It isn’t just the absence of conversation—it’s the presence of harmful myths, quiet assumptions, and the idea that struggling emotionally is somehow a personal failure. Mental illness becomes the thing we whisper about, mask with a smile, or deny altogether. It hides behind the casual “I’m fine” and the belief that we must keep it together, always.

But the truth is, mental health is not separate from physical health—it’s not a side dish to our overall wellness. It is deeply human to feel, to falter, to be affected by life’s challenges. Anxiety, depression, trauma, burnout—these are not signs of weakness. They are responses to being alive in a complicated world. And when we allow space for these experiences without shame, we create room for healing.

At LiveWell Psychology, we often think about how much suffering happens in isolation—not because people don’t want help, but because they don’t believe they deserve it, or fear how they’ll be seen if they ask. This is why awareness months matter. They bring our collective gaze to the quiet places and invite compassion where there might otherwise be judgment. They remind us that mental health is everyone’s concern—not just for those with a diagnosis, but for all of us navigating the emotional terrain of being human.

Breaking the stigma starts with these conversations. It starts when we challenge our own assumptions, when we check in on a friend and genuinely mean it, when we allow ourselves to say, “I’m not okay,” without apologizing. It deepens when we support policies that expand access to care and when we treat mental health with the same seriousness as physical health.

This month, and every month, Dr. Tomasula encourages you to continue moving toward a world where seeking help is an act of strength, not something to hide. Where people are met with empathy instead of fear. Where mental health care is accessible, affordable, and free of shame.

Let’s not wait until someone is in crisis to offer our understanding. Let’s build a culture where no one has to break to be believed. Contact us today at LiveWell Psychology to let us know how we can best support your mental health!