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Alex Barankevych

You man hiking with a backpack and posting with range of mountain in the background

Move to boost your mental health

Physical activity is not just beneficial for maintaining a healthy body, but also for improving mental health. In fact, research shows that exercise is one of the most effective tools to manage mental health issues like anxiety and depression. Even modest levels of physical activity or low-intensity exercise are beneficial.

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Happy multi generational women having fun together - Multiracial friends smiling on camera after sport workout outdoor - Main focus on african female face

The door creaked open and invited me in

Supporting healing for veterans navigating the transition to post-service life.

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A young woman in headphones with her dog is sitting on the bed and typing on her laptop

The new frontiers of ability

Imagine, if you will, that you woke up one day and your life was completely unrecognizable. It could happen, for so many reasons, good and bad. What then? Do you fall apart or keep going? Or do you re-imagine what’s possible?

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Mature couple walks in a park holding hands and smiling at each other

Mental Health for Older Adults: 5 Practical Ways to Boost your Mood

Mental health is a vital aspect of your overall health. As you grow older, you can experience changes in your physical health, social connections, and daily routines that can significantly affect your quality of life, your mood and well-being. 

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Happy multiracial girlfriends in love embracing and cuddling - Lesbian couple, millennials women, girls in London living happy lifestyle - LGBTQ concept with mixed race beautiful couple

I didn’t imagine that mental health was affected by the colour of one’s skin. I was wrong.

As a white woman, my culture is slowly moving towards an acceptance of mental health and an understanding of mental illness while persons – particularly men – of colour still struggle under the weight of unbearable cultural stigma.

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Be kind to your mind: 3 top-rated apps for mindfulness and meditation

How would you rate your ability to focus right now? More importantly, how are you feeling? After bathing in anxiety for a few years, are you feeling a little frayed around the edges? Are you making enough time each day to relax, reflect, and renew yourself?

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a young woman with a dog on her laps sits in front of the laptop with a cup of tea besides her / une jeune femme avec un chien sur ses genoux est assise devant l'ordinateur portable avec une tasse de thé à côté d'elle

See me as a person, not a diagnosis

When someone says, “you’re so brave” (as they do all the time) all I hear is that to them, my life is pitiful, and I feel diminished and reduced to my diagnosis. It makes me think of an after school special on “never giving up” (remember those cheesy posters from the eighties and nineties with a cat hanging on a rope? Yeah, that.)

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I searched for families like mine – and if possible, hope. They were here all along

Stigma leads me to write this under a pseudonym. Why? Because my child is kind, caring, generous and resilient, among many other great qualities.

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The power of connection: Living well with chronic illness

I was born with hydrocephalus and spastic cerebral palsy, permanent neurological disabilities that affect information processing speed, coordination, speech, balance, and walking ability. I have chronic pain from increased muscle tone. I consider myself fortunate as I can walk and have achieved some significant milestones.

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