The effects of mental illness take an extreme toll on the lives of millions of individuals worldwide. During the first week of October, we join other mental health advocates in observing Mental Illness Awareness Week. It is important to raise more awareness about mental illness and how common symptoms can be for any individual, no matter their circumstance.

Our Sound + Articulation Challenge is an engaging card game designed for adults to improve their speech and articulation skills while enjoying some laughs along the way. This set of cards includes various speech sounds and tongue twisters to challenge and enhance adult speech proficiency

September is a season of reflection and transition — harvest time, shorter days, and memories of life stages. This activity connects body, mind, and conversation in ways that feel purposeful.

In this engaging word association game, you can practice exploring various hobbies, focusing on vocabulary expansion, quick thinking, and social interaction in a relaxed, recreational context.

Anyone can benefit from the practice of checking in with self-awareness by asking questions to help you look at yourself and life events to reflect. This activity is designed to help promote and enhance self-esteem and confidence.

Memory exercises can be a fun way to work on your attention, concentration, and focus. Engaging any of these exercises can improve visual discrimination, recognition, and short-term memory.

Create your own secret messages for someone special! This craft is a fun way to engage watercolor with ease. Start with a blank sheet of paper and a white crayon.

Sometimes we just need a simple reminder to laugh! It can be difficult at times to find the levity to laugh, especially if you are undergoing treatment or experiencing pain in your body.

Recovery Month has been observed for 31 years, and it centers upon the progress made by individuals in recovery while promoting awareness of addiction or mental health counseling and treatment options. In celebration of those individuals who have made progress to begin living in a more healthy and prosperous way.

Engage in this progressive muscle relaxation exercise to create more mindfulness, stillness, and calm anxiety. This technique can be used in many different scenarios, whether stress is affecting you, you’re having trouble sleeping, or simply require a mindfulness exercise to help soothe your anxiety.

September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, an important effort to acknowledge by NAMI. Mental health difficulties affect those of all ages. It is important that we help everyone we know to be more aware of the subject of suicide and better understand how mental health resources may be helpful in preventing this kind of tragedy.

Use mosaic tiles to create your own patterns, or follow one of the examples.

Order shapes of glass or other material to make your own mosaic patterns. If you don’t have tiles, you can use pieces of paper or simply color in the design on the page itself. Use this time creating your patterns to relax, focus on mindfulness, and bring your stress levels down.

September is Blood Cancer Awareness Month, a time for advocates and supporters of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) to raise awareness both nationally and locally about efforts to fight blood cancers including Leukemia, Lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease, and Myeloma.

An easy way to prevent injury by strengthening your muscles over time.

Use these simple instructions to help relieve tension and neck pain over time. Rotate, tilt, nod, press, and side press once a day!

Healthy aging month takes place in the month of September every year. During this month, we aim to help raise awareness about living a healthy lifestyle so more individuals can look forward to growing older. During the past year, all of us, and particularly our elder population have faced unexpected challenges. It is important now, more than ever, that we address and take a proactive approach to aging.

World Alzheimer’s Month falls in September each year. During the month, advocates aim to create more awareness about the disease. Because Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia are common and affect over 50 million people around the world, it is important to raise awareness of how to recognize symptoms, risk factors involved, and the current treatment available for individuals.

It’s easy to follow the numbers and create your colorful work of art. Practicing this activity helps develop stronger attention skills, concentration, and focus. Painting or coloring addresses visual discrimination and recognition. Keeping up with this practice can also help individuals improve their short-term memory.

Every month in September, we observe prostate cancer awareness month. Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer occurring in men aside from skin cancer. In many cases, individuals do not present any symptoms until cancer has progressed. It is important that we promote awareness about prostate cancer and prostate cancer screenings to help individuals with early detection and overall prevention.

The end of summer represents harvest season and preparation for change. In this activity, participants “tend to their garden,” collecting garden-related items through movements, problem-solving, and communication tasks.

It works well for individuals or groups, in community centers, or at home.

Gastroparesis is an important health issue to raise awareness about, particularly during the month of August. Promoting a better understanding of this issue and how it can affect an individual’s quality of life may enable more people to find treatment options and learn strategies to prevent symptoms from worsening.