What Would You Do if You Could Do Anything?

A few weeks ago, I was on my WordPress reader reading recent blog posts. Cheri Lucas Rowlands posted in the Discovery blog about Hilde Lysiak, who is on WordPress’ “Anything is Possible’ list for 2019. The post ended with the prompt “What would you do if you could do anything?” Throughout my life, I have heard this question and I usually just brushed it off because I never felt like I had an adequate answer. As I was reading through the comments, I became inspired by everyone’s responses. Most of the responses were related to people’s passions and/or a personal experience. I started to think to myself, “What would you do if you could do anything? What is something you really want to do?” Then I said to myself, “I want to play a role in mental health services and information being more accessible to people, especially those from underrepresented groups who tend to be over looked and have the least access.”

It would be great if instead of trying to cope with mental illness, trauma, etc. alone, everyone would be able to receive support from communities and different avenues of professional help without numerous barriers in their way. I have seen the ways that barriers have hindered people from receiving the help, support, and other resources that they need and the consequences of not having access. I have also witnessed the benefits that occur when these barriers are worked around or taken down and people receive the support that they need. Receiving help to improve/maintain mental health and emotional wellness (and even physical health) is in many ways a privilege for some people. For some people these services can be expensive (even with insurance), locations could be too far, people may not have the time with packed schedules, people may not know about services, some of these services are not inclusive and do not provide a safe/welcoming space for everyone, some people do not know what is a right fit for them thus making it harder to navigate and the list goes on. Gaining access to various forms of mental health resources should not be viewed as a privilege that only some can obtain. It should be seen and treated as a basic necessity because overall health and fulfilling a life includes the mental/emotional component in addition to other components, such as spiritual.

If I can do anything, I would want to make mental health services more practical and obtainable for people. I want to lessen barriers and stigma. I have a few ideas as to how I could do this and I’m actually doing some now. Below is a short list:

• Big surprise: earn my master’s degree in clinical psychology and work as a therapist
• Keep learning about services, accessibility, barriers, etc.
• Be/stay aware of my privileges and advantages so that I make sure services are accessible to everyone, not just people who are similar to me
• Have discussions with people from different backgrounds and fields to learn more and bridge gaps
• Write/talk more about mental health and share information. I have a few posts about mental health on my blog, but I would like to write more
• Collaborate with others who have a similar vision/goals because there is strength in numbers and this is not a one-person goal
• Work in various settings to further understand different services
• Become the director of an agency so that I could train others while simultaneously learn from them

On a non-work/academic related note, I would also like to travel to different places to experience various cultures/forms of art and meditate near natural bodies of water. You can read about My Love for Natural Bodies of Water . In addition, I would like to engage in more art and creative forms.’

Time to Focus on You:

What would do if you could do anything?

If you already wrote a post answering the question, I would love to read it so please leave a link to your post!

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