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About Janine Monico

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So far Janine Monico has created 135 blog entries.

Helpful Thinking

At seven months into the COVID-19 pandemic, you might have concerns about safety, helplessness, feeling unable to cope, guilt, and anger. These feelings are understandable given what we're all going through; but focusing on these negative feelings can make it even harder to cope. It can help to identify the unhelpful thoughts and then redirect your focus to more helpful thoughts. The National Center for PTSD compiled the charts below as a guide for practicing using helpful thoughts. When you're thinking "I am too scared to do anything because I might get infected," or "I'm going to infect others," some alternative helpful thoughts might be "I can gather information, set priorities, adapt my plans, and carry out the most important necessities in ways that are safe." Also remind yourself "I am doing the best I can to keep myself and my family safe," and "I can find ways to express love and be connected in ways that are safe for all of us." Use these tables to identify thoughts you might be having now, and helpful thoughts you can try instead. Practice focusing on more helpful thoughts as often as you can. If you find that you continue to struggle with your mental or emotional health despite making efforts to stay well, help is always available. You can begin by [...]

2021-03-07T14:10:42-05:00October 15th, 2020|Pandemic|
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National Depression Screening Day 2020

Author: Maria Boswell, Director, Health Promotion, Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services Every October, on National Depression Screening Day (NDSD), we encourage everyone to get “a check-up from the neck-up” and talk about mental health.  National Depression Screening Day (NDSD) seeks to educate, raise awareness, reduce stigma, and connect Philadelphians with mental health screenings and resources. How do I know I might have depression?  If you struggle with depression, you can have trouble sleeping (sleeping too much or not enough), concentrating, and very low energy. You can lose interest in activities you once enjoyed, lose confidence in yourself, and feel worthless. Some people have recurring thoughts of death or suicide, and can often feel trapped or desperately alone. Depression can be a very painful and frightening experience.  For many, depression can show itself in angry outbursts, frequent crying, irritability, or problems at home, work, or school. Depression can feel like you are all alone, and you can’t imagine that anyone else feels as much pain as you do. Well, that’s not true. Depression affects 40 million families each year, and other people feel and have felt similar to you. People are reluctant to seek help for many reasons, including embarrassment, shame, fear, and social stigma. For some people, hiding their depression seems like the only solution. For others, finding negative ways [...]

2021-01-28T23:11:12-05:00October 5th, 2020|Depression|
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Recovery Month: Opioid Addiction, Recovery, & Overdose Prevention

As Philadelphia continues to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, the city is still facing an opioid use and overdose epidemic. Every neighborhood across our city and country is affected as well as all racial and ethnic groups. Addiction to opioids can happen to anyone, no matter age, gender, income, or family upbringing. As we celebrate Recovery Month 2020, we must do all we can to support those struggling with this addiction so that they, too, can experience recovery. What exactly are Opioids?  Opioids are a class of drugs prescribed to relieve pain (often termed, 'pain killers.') Common brand names include: OxyContin® and Percocet® (oxycodone) Vicodin® (hydrocodone), and Kadian (morphine.) When appropriately prescribed by a doctor, opioids help the brain block the feeling of pain and help many people to cope with the pain caused by surgery, physical trauma, and chronic ailments. Also included in the opioids class is the illegal drug heroin (which is chemically similar to prescription opioids), and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl. The Mayo Clinic, a nonprofit medical academic center, notes that people who take potentially addictive drugs as prescribed rarely abuse them or become addicted. But taking them not as prescribed or for an extended time increases the risk of misuse and addiction. Once addicted, it is challenging to stop continued use. When a person is addicted to a drug, [...]

2021-01-04T21:32:16-05:00September 24th, 2020|Addiction & Recovery|
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Lived Experience

Author: Hunter Robbins, Suicide Prevention Coordinator, Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services (DBHIDS) September is National Suicide Awareness and Prevention Month. This is a time to highlight the work being done to prevent suicide, spread awareness about helpful initiatives, and share resources within our communities. It is also a time to remember the importance of those with lived experience. Lived experience as it pertains to suicide usually means one of two things: either you have lost someone to suicide (a survivor of suicide), or you have attempted suicide yourself and survived. Unfortunately, when we talk about suicide, those with lived experience are often left out of the conversation. Being a survivor of any traumatic experience is not easy. In 2018, there were 48,433 Americans who died by suicide, and a staggering 1.4 million who attempted suicide, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. To add to that, studies show that for every death by suicide, there are up to 135 people who can be affected by it. This means that in 2018, up to 8 million people could be considered to have lived experience. Why is it important to highlight lived experience? Studies show that after an individual dies by suicide, there could be a significant increase of suicide risk for close friends and family. There is [...]

2020-09-09T15:04:45-04:00September 9th, 2020|Suicide Prevention|
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