Supporting “May is Mental Health Month”
When I’m not working on a picture book or this blog, I am playing with my granddaughter, socializing with friends and family or participating in outdoor activities like kayaking and biking with my husband. Like many people, I have a “health” app on my phone that tracks the number of “steps” I take in a day. But it always frustrated me with its inability to track non-stepping activities like kayaking and bike riding.
A good tracking app with “challenges”
A few years ago, a friend and avid cyclist suggested I use Strava. Strava is an app that has the ability to track time and miles for just about any activity which, when I’m not taking steps like walking or jogging and doing non-stepping activities, I like. Strava also offers users “challenges.” These are opportunities for users to best their personal record while boosting motivation and goal attainment (a mental health skill)!
A great “May is Mental Health Month” partnership
So, it was nice for me as a mental health educator and a member of Mental Health America’s Advocacy Network to see that MHA is partnering with Strava for their May is Mental Health Month campaign. Mental Health America is the nation’s leading community-based nonprofit addressing mental illness and promoting mental health. To raise awareness, MHA is partnering with L.L. Bean in the L.L. Bean Feel-Good Challenge on Strava. If all challenge takers spend a combined 500,000 hours participating in outdoor activities during the month of May, L.L. Bean will donate $50,000 to MHA for their advocacy efforts.
Strava challenges are fun and easy. The app takes care of all the tracking and lets you know when you have completed the challenge. It then provides an overview of your activity such as the number of miles and time spent.
For me, the L.L. Bean Feel-Good Challenge on Strava hits all the right buttons – promoting mental health, being active outdoors and participating in a Strava challenge!
There couldn’t be a better May is Mental Health Month activity for me! I hope it can be yours too!