May is Mental Health Awareness Month. While the conversation around mental well-being is more public and common today, it still deserves space for consideration. Certified Rehabilitation Counselors work with individuals with all types of disability. Although it’s sometimes considered its own area, mental health conditions and concerns are disabilities. Many do not know that the mental health counseling profession itself stems from rehabilitation counseling. Prioritizing mental health is something we all need to practice, but for clients seeking professional help, mental health services from a CRC can be a particularly useful way to tackle all the aspects and impacts mental health can have on an individual.
At the onset of this conversation, we want to share a few resources if you are in immediate need of help:
In life-threatening situations, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room.
If you are suicidal or in emotional distress, consider using the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
Call or text 988 or start a chat online to connect with a trained crisis counselor. The Lifeline provides 24-hour, confidential support to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress.
If you are a veteran, consider using the Veterans Crisis Line.
Call 988, then press “1.” You can also text 838255 or chat online . The Veterans Crisis Line is a 24-hour, confidential resource that connects veterans with a trained responder. The service is available to all veterans and those who support them, even if they are not registered with the VA or enrolled in VA healthcare.
If you have experienced a disaster, consider using the Disaster Distress Helpline.
Call or text 1-800-985-5990. The Disaster Distress Helpline provides immediate crisis counseling for people experiencing emotional distress related to any natural or human-caused disaster. The 24-hour, confidential helpline offers interpretation services in more than 100 languages.
Why Seek Out Mental Health Services from a CRC?
As professionals who feel called to serve and help others, Certified Rehabilitation Counselors are ideal advocates for people with disabilities.
Combining the passion for equity and inclusion with the knowledge and skills to drive actual change, everyone who works with a CRC can see the difference.
That goes for folks with a mental health diagnosis also. While mental health counselors have training designed specifically for mental health, CRCs have a holistic, person-centric approach that not only includes mental health but also expands beyond the diagnoses into the functional limitations it can present, as well as the ways to navigate work and life while mitigating its impact.
Help Adjusting to New Mental Health Concerns
When someone acquires a disability, they work with a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor to adjust to this new lived experience and to progress in personal and professional life.
Similarly, a new diagnosis of a mental health condition should be treated with a comprehensive review of what’s possible for the client and what’s ahead.
With so many individuals working or living through life before receiving a formal diagnosis, it’s overwhelming to suddenly deal with this new part of yourself.
Disability does not define an individual, but it does impact the way one’s self-image. That’s why a CRC can help to do more than just help you adjust, but also can
Coping with Identity Shifts Related to Mental Health Diagnoses
When someone is diagnosed with a disability, whether they’ve suspected they might be experiencing one or not, the official nature of a medical diagnosis can be a lot to process. Identity shifts during a disability journey can happen, and might occur at different stages for each individual.
A CRC can help you talk through what you’re feeling about an identity shift related to mental health and support you through it. That might include connecting you with community groups, resources you can read, watch, or listen to online, and even just discussing how disability is impacting you.
Of course, one major shift in identity that can occur is whether or not your mental health journey is impacting a job.
Managing Stress Related to Employment Factors of Mental Health
Mental health concerns don’t wait patiently outside of the workplace while you’re on the job. In fact, many people will attempt to ignore mental health worries to ensure they don’t lose a job. In reality, nothing benefits an individual to fail to address what’s negatively impacting them. Eventually, it will play a role in their job and ability to stay employed.
When working with a CRC, they can assist clients with how to best address stress, anxiety, and other mental health factors that are related to employment. It’s not something that happens overnight, but accommodations and formal processes for making the workplace as welcoming as possible can go a long way.
CRCs know all of the laws related to disability and employment inside and out. They can help clients find ways to get the support they need so that employment doesn’t become a concern. If work is something that might need to take a backseat to addressing mental health concerns, they can help you through that process as well.
Building Resilience and a Plan for the Future
Disability advocates will tell you that resilience is a required skill for anyone navigating a condition in society. That’s because many aspects of communities, workplaces, and other environments do not center disability in ways that make life equitable for all. CRCs work every day to reverse this harsh reality, and that includes equipping you with self-advocacy and resilience skills that you can employ in your day-to-day life.
A Certified Rehabilitation Counselor can help make your mental health concerns feel manageable. Many CRCs work in mental health practices and even offer traditional counseling sessions.
If you want to know where to get started with a CRC for your mental health services, learn more here.
We Want to Hear from You!
In our next blog, we’ll focus on how to specifically tailor your resume to highlight the CRC credential’s credibility while clearly communicating your value to hiring managers.
Have a topic you’d like to see covered in the CRCC Connect Blog? Reach out to us at marketing@crccertification.com. We’d love to hear your ideas and insights
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