Dear Editor:

In light of the recent tragedy that occurred at Virginia Tech University, I feel it is appropriate to highlight the fact that May is National Mental Health Awareness Month. For more than fifty years Mental Health America (formerly known as the National Mental Health Association) has used this month to raise awareness about mental illnesses and the importance of mental wellness for all. For many people, mental illness is viewed as a stigma, and thus people are reluctant to seek help for mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, insomnia or obsessive compulsive disorder. Among the goals of Mental Health Awareness Month are to highlight what resources are available to those who are suffering, to provide friends and families with the tools that will assist them in getting their loved ones the help they desperately need, to get the word out that mental illness is not something to be ashamed of and that there are many people who are dealing with the same issues everyday.

For more information about Mental Health Awareness Month you can go to www.mentalhealthamerica.net/go/may. For other Mental Health resources, the website of the National Alliance on Mental Illness at http://www.nami.org/ is an excellent source of information.

Senator Katherine Klausmeier

D-Baltimore County