Honoring, Celebrating, and Caring for Women
Rev. Katherine Sherrill, M.A., LCMHCA, MT-BC
In honor of Women’s History Month, several of our staff clinicians will be sharing their perspectives on women and mental health throughout the month of March. Women have been essential to the development of counseling as it exists today. The counseling field has been integrated throughout the 20th and 21st century to include a diversity of providers that did not exist when the field began. As current therapists, we look back to trailblazers in the fields of psychology, sociology, family systems, and medicine and give them our gratitude and hope that we continue to find new ways to provide mind, body, and spirit care to our clients. Sanctuary Counseling Group honors and celebrates the women that have made our work possible.
Research shows that men and women are equally likely to develop mental health conditions but the types of conditions vary (APA, 2017). Depression, anxiety, PTSD, and eating disorders are more commonly found in women and our research has shown they are also more likely to seek out treatment to help with their mental health needs (APA, 2017). There are still several barriers and risk factors that women experience more often than men. Women are at much higher risk to be victims of violence and to live below the poverty line (SAMHSA, 2014). Research has also shown a time related barrier in that women on average spend 50% more time caregiving than men (SAMHSA, 2016).
Mental Health, in general, is a stigmatized topic and for women it can be difficult to seek out help. Michelle Obama focuses on women’s mental health in her philanthropic work, she shared, “Women in particular need to keep an eye on their physical and mental health, because if we’re scurrying to and from appointments and errands, we don’t have a lot of time to take care of ourselves. We need to do a better job of putting ourselves higher on our own ‘to do’ list.“ Here at Sanctuary Counseling Group, we are dedicated to a variety of mental health needs and place our clients' story at the front of our approach. We honor the time that you dedicate to your own growth, healing, and discovery. This month we raise up women, who have affected our lives as academics, leaders, parents, friends, and children. We are thankful that we get to work together to support the resilience and well-being of women in our communities.
American Psychiatric Association (2017). Mental Health Disparities: Women’s Mental Health. file:///home/chronos/u-38b29b86dd411d605eeff688884a991c9f87d754/MyFiles/Downloads/Mental-Health-Facts-for-Women.pdf
