Check on Your Strong Friend: A Reminder for Mental Health Awareness Month ( May)

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, a time to pause and really think about the emotional and psychological well-being of ourselves and those around us. It’s also a time to acknowledge a truth that often gets swept under the rug: a lot of people are struggling silently, undiagnosed, and unseen.

Not everyone who’s battling anxiety, depression, trauma, or burnout wears it on their sleeve. In fact, some of the most overwhelmed people you know might also be the ones who smile the brightest, check in the most, and carry the weight of everyone else’s emotions, because that’s what “strong” friends do, right?

Wrong.

Being strong doesn’t mean being invincible. And checking on your “strong friend” doesn’t mean prying, it means asking how they’re really doing and being ready to listen without judgment. It means creating space for honesty, struggle, and even silence. It means offering support that’s kind and human, not performative or dismissive.

This month (and every month), let’s normalize help, not just in crisis, but before crisis. Let’s remind each other that therapy is not weakness, medication is not failure, and healing doesn’t follow a neat timeline.

So go ahead; send the text, make the call, offer a safe place to land. You never know how much it might mean to someone who’s been holding it all together for far too long.

You don’t have to be a therapist to be a safe space. You just have to care.

Be Well. -Dr. Tamaru