June is Men’s Mental Health Month, and Houston Independent School District is proud to help raise awareness about the importance of men’s mental health by sharing available resources and supports.

Men’s Mental Health Month was established to encourage men to take charge of their overall health by implementing healthy living decisions, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

HISD continues to identify organizations and community resources that can expand access to critical services.

HISD’s Benefits Office offers several mental health resources to help employees seeking help including Guidance Connect, a complimentary service available 24/7 which allows users to find a network therapist through its portal.

Therapists are available for in-person, telephone, or video appointments and can found at guidanceresouces.com.

MindCheck is an online resource available to HISD staff which measures how users are doing emotionally, using a color-coding tool to tell users how they are doing emotionally and offer suggestions for next steps and additional resources. MindCheck is not only free for users, but it can also be used at any time by family, friends, and colleagues.

HISD’s Benefits Office is also offering an interactive quiz titled “Mental Health: Myth versus Fact” to help educate users on the facts surrounding mental health. For example, one myth is that “mental health problems don’t affect me”, when in reality, mental health problems are very common with suicide being the 10^th leading cause of death in the United States with more than 41,000 American lives lost each year, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.  

HISD employees can also utilize the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to access available mental health resources and Comp Psych’s Mental Awareness Toolkit, a resource which helps users cope with stress, understand how mental health and physical health are connected and more

For more information about available mental health resources, click here.