May is Mental Health Awareness Month.

I forget this every year until I start seeing posts and articles talking about it.

Even though I’m a mental health practitioner and consumer, I don’t tend to find things like Awareness Months terribly helpful, and so I definitely have some feelings about the month that claims to want to help people who need mental health support.

Now, I do want to offer a caveat up front that I don’t think every single person honoring this month is problematic. I know plenty of colleagues and organizations who do good work and use this kind of splashy framework to help move forward some really important ideas.

As in many things in this work, it isn’t binary, and there’s lots of room for nuance.

And also…that doesn’t mean I don’t have some feelings about it.

If you grew up in fundamental christianity and have since left it, the last several weeks may have felt especially distressing.

You worked so hard to deconstruct, to reclaim your identity, and yet here you are, being constantly confronted with those old, harmful narratives…only this time, instead of at church or in your home, it’s on every news outlet.

You no longer are controlled by rigid and toxic rules…and now, the laws of the land eerily mirror all of the bullshit you grew up with and got away from.

The political nightmare that is the current president (and everyone working with him) is deeply challenging for so many people right now.

And especially for people who know these ideologies so well, in a way that is unique and painful, feeling bombarded by these messages, being told that these are now laws not just in the church but for everyone, can feel retraumatizing.

If you feel activated by what’s happening, know that you’re not alone.