The first week in October is Mental Illness Awareness Week. During the week, the National Alliance on Mental Illness and participants across the United States raise public awareness of mental illness, its symptoms, and prevalence in society.

According to nationaldaycalendar.com, "National Mental Illness Awareness Week is a time when mental health organizations step up their efforts to fight the stigma of mental illness. Since nearly one in five US adults live with a mental illness, odds are, someone you know has a mental illness. They may not even know it is the cause of their suffering. There could be several reasons people are unaware. That's one of the reasons Mental Illness Awareness Week sets a goal to help people become aware of the diverse symptoms."

There are an estimated 46.6 million adults aged 18 or older in the United States with any mental illness (AMI). This number represented 18.9% of all US adults.

The prevalence of AMI was higher among women (22.3%) than men (15.1%).

Young adults aged 18-25 years had the highest prevalence of AMI (25.8%) compared to adults aged 26-49 years (22.2%) and aged 50 and older (13.8%).

The prevalence of AMI was highest among the adults reporting two or more races (28.6%), followed by White adults (20.4%). The incidence of AMI was lowest among Asian adults (14.5%).

Newtown Health District has this to say about behavioral and mental health on its website: "At some time in our lives, each of us may feel overwhelmed and may need help dealing with our problems. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (2019), more than 46 million US adults ages 18 and older deal with any mental illness (AMI). Sometimes we may need help dealing with feelings and problems that seem beyond our control — problems with a marriage or relationship, a family situation or dealing with losing a job, the death of a loved one, depression, stress, burnout or substance abuse. Those losses and stresses of daily living can at times be significantly debilitating. During times of disaster, during illness, feelings of stress and anxiety may become exaggerated and burdensome. Help is available.

Below are some of the resources available to help navigate you through difficult times. Stay positive, in control and healthy.

The Disaster Distress Helpline may be reached at 1-800-985-5990, text TalkWithUs to 66746, or visit disasterdistress.samhsa.gov.

The CDC Daily Life Stress and Coping Strategies may be found at cdc.gov/mental-health/living-with/index.html.

Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) may be found at portal.ct.gov/DMHAS.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA) may be found at samhsa.gov.

CT Suicide Advisory Board may be found at preventsuicidect.org.

Helping Children Cope during a Disaster may be found at cdc.gov/children-and-school-preparedness/before-during-after/helping-children-cope.html.

Support for Worker Mental Health may be found at cdc.gov/mental-health/caring/providing-support-for-workers-and-professionals.