May is Mental Health Awareness Month!
Teens, we want to help you feel comfortable with talking about your mental health this month.
Learn how to maintain your mental health and support your friends, with activities, exercises, and resources especially for you, all month long.
Come back to this blog post each week in May, and check out our Instagram page too, and use the hashtag #QPLTeens!
Teen Mental Health Programs
Join us for QPL’s in-person programs.
Mental Health Awareness Booklists
Moody Mondays
You know it, we know it: Mondays are the worst!
Each Monday in May, come here for music and videos to help you start your week.
May 1: Here’s some music and movement to help you improve your relaxation.
Take it Easy: A Relaxation Playlist
May 8: Here’s some music and movement to help you de-stress.
May 15: Here’s some music and movement to help you find calm.
Gentle Seated Chair Yoga For Beginners
May 22: Here’s some music and movement to help improve your mood.
Ocean County Library: Today Will Be a Wonderful Day
May 29: Here’s some music and movement to help you reduce your anxieties.
Herrick District Library: Meditate and Rejuvenate
Yoga For Health: Fears and Anxiety
Wreck It Wednesdays
Learn How to Create Your Own Wreck It Journal!
May 3: What's a Wreck It Journal?
A Wreck It Journal is not like traditional blogs, journals, diaries, or sketchbooks.
Yes, you can write or draw in it if you like. But you can also scribble nonsense, or throw it down the stairs, or put it under the leg of your kitchen table for a few hours!
There are no mistakes in how you use it, and you can wreck or destroy it however you want. Use your Wreck It Journal to let off steam, to experiment, to mess around!
Learn More and Try our Prompts to Create your own Wreck It Journal.
May 10: Teen Mental Health Month: What Do You Want?
This week, watch this video and use your Wreck It Journal to write down your goals and priorities for the rest of the month of May.
What questions do you have about mental heath and wellness? How do you want to help yourself this month? How do you want to help your friends?
May 17: Reflections from Thich Nhat Hanh
Watch this video with the Buddhist "father of mindfulness" and think about how you can practice gratitude.
Remind yourself daily of things you are grateful for. Be specific. Write them down in your Journal at night, or replay them in your mind.
May 24: Take Out the Trash!
Write down a list of everything that is making you upset. Once you have filled up the page, crumple it up and throw it in the garbage!
If you need to talk about what’s making you upset, here’s a list of free Mental Health Hotlines that you can call.
May 31: Time to Wreck that Journal!
Still need to wreck your journal?
Glue in a page from a magazine. Circle words you like. Write with your pen in your mouth. Give away your favorite page!
Here's a video with some examples of Wreck It Journals.
Fulfilled Fridays
Each Friday in May, take a moment to think about what makes you feel fulfilled.
How can you care for yourself? What can you do to care for the world around you?
May 5: Self-Care
Self-care is so important. We need to check in with how we feel, how we treat ourselves, and how we respond to the world around us. How do you care for yourself?
Search for Self-Care on the QPL Website
Visit Mental Health Is Health
May 12: Advocacy
Advocacy takes many forms. You can give support, ideas, and goals to your community, your schools, and even your city and country! What things around you would you like to improve? What are small steps that you can take? Who can you talk to about it?
Search for Activism on the QPL Website
Visit My Life Is Worth Living
Learn More about Youth Activism
May 19: Meditation
Meditation is a form of self-care. Learning to manage your breathing can help you center your thoughts and help you reduce stress and anxiety. Take a moment today to stop, pause, and concentrate on your breathing. It will really make a difference!
Search for Meditation on the QPL Website
Watch 7-Minute Meditation to Start Your Day
Watch 30 Day Meditation with Arianna Elizabeth
May 26: Art and Self-Expression
Art and self-expression can fulfill us as we navigate the world around us. What art form makes you feel fulfilled? Drawing, writing, painting, dancing, knitting, crocheting?
Search for Crafting on the QPL Website
Crafts for Teens & Tweens: 50 Awesome Ideas!
Find More Fulfillment
Queens Community House: Young Adult Services
Your Life Your Voice: Ways To Get Help