May is Mental Health Awareness Month

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, a time for people to learn more about mental health conditions and seek out help for them, and to raise awareness of trauma and the impact it can have on the physical, emotional, and mental well-being of children, families, and communities

May is also the time for the annual National Children’s Mental Health Awareness campaign, which serves to raise awareness about the importance of children’s mental health and to show that positive mental health is essential to a child’s healthy development from birth.

Working within the WIC Program’s scope, State and local WIC agencies, in coordination with mental health services, can screen and refer participants to maximize participant benefit from WIC nutrition services to achieve positive health outcomes. WIC staff can increase awareness and knowledge in assisting participants diagnosed with or who are at risk for depression through the FNS Guidance for Screening and Referring Women with or at Risk for Depression.

You can visit the Mental Health Awareness Month and National Children’s Mental Health Awareness pages on the WIC Works Resource System to access toolkits that offer fact sheets, posters, coloring and activity books for kids, videos, graphics, activities for family and children, and more.

The WIC Works Resource System is an online education and training center for staff of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). It is a project of the Food and Nutrition Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Questions can be sent to wicworks@fns.usda.gov.