In this module we are going to discuss the topic of mental health and safety. This module is designed to be an overview not an in-depth look. Mental health is a large topic and can affect individuals in different ways. Our purpose here is to give you a better understanding on how your mental health can affect your safety and resources/ support you can receive and action steps you can take in your everyday life to improve your mental health. This is our mental health and safety 101 module, which means there is more to come on this topic.

How can mental health affect your safety?

You may have watched some movies that chow how mental health can affect you but in our opinion the movie Inside Out does a great job of explaining it. Not just for kids but adults as well. For those of you have not watched the movie here is a simple overview for you.

In the movie the main character is a young individual and from the moment they are born they have these little people popping in their mind. First there is Joy and then comes sadness. Then we get fear, anger and disgust. These are the 5 core emotions that everyone has not just in the movie. As the movie goes on it gives examples on how our emotions affect us day to day. It even pops into the adult minds and shows how their emotions work. Then there are the identity islands. These identities are created from core memories and can change if needed as shown in the movie.

Now you might be wondering why are we talking about a movie? Honestly there are more mental health professionals using this movie to help their clients identify emotions. So, we figured if they can we can. For a majority who do use this, it helps them to describe how their emotions are if talking about emotions or feelings is difficult. In the movie it states that fear is the emotion that keeps us safe. You know that one time you burned yourself and now your brain tells you no don’t touch its hot and will hurt. That is your fear talking to you.

Fear is in everyone. It is a core emotion for a reason. In our day to day lives it is not an emotion that we think of. For some fear can feel shameful. We are here to encourage you to not think like that. There are good and bad elements to any emotion, not just fear.

Mental Health and Disabilities

Depending on where you are at on your journey of acceptance with your disability can play a factor into how you feel about your safety when going out or even staying at home. When an individual is diagnosed with a disability it starts the grieving process. This is the same grieving process for accepting death. For those who may not know here is the process.

Denial
Anger
Bargaining
Depression
Acceptance

These steps can happen once or more than once. If your disability gets worse overtime, you may go through this cycle more than once. We bring this up so you can learn how just having a disability can affect your mental health. Then you mix in additional elements in such as travel skills, where you live, who your around, what step are you on your grieving process and more. Then there is the mixture of disabilities.

For many of us there is often more than one disability or health concern an individual must be aware of. Let’s check out some common combinations.

Blindness and diabetic

Blind / deaf

Blind and learning disability

Blind and PTSD

When you combine some of these do you start to understand how it can get messy in that brain. We understand. It can be difficult to manage more than one disability especially if your early in the process of grieving. Later in this module we will give you some ideas for resources and action steps that can give you small wins in your journey of life.

Hopefully we have given you a nice overview on how mental health works when it comes to disabilities. Now let’s go more into how this mental health can affect your view on safety.

It is human nature to not want to step outside of our comfort zones. For some this comfort zone keeps them from doing things on their own or may even struggle to ask for help when needed. Let’s give some examples on what we are attempting to say.

Going out of the house- This is common in those who have not received Orientation and Mobility training. They are not comfortable using a white cane for travel. They are concerned that if they use the white cane in public others will view them as a target. For those who have went through Orientation and Mobility training can tell you in fact they are more confident when using it.

Not using a white cane because how others view them- There are those out there who choose not to use their white cane because they feel like they are a bigger target or people will not know they are blind if they are not using it. The writer of this module was one of those individuals who felt the same but let me tell you people know weather you do or not. In fact, you might be a little safer using it because you won’t run into poles, signs or trip downstairs.

Going to gatherings- Weather it’s a family picnic or going to the club as humans we interact with others but for some this causes quite a bit of anxiety. Common thoughts are how will others handle me? Am I going to be grabbed? Will my transportation be safe?

The one thing that connects these concerns is perspective. Your perspective. How you view yourself affects the steps you take in your day to day lives. This is not just a disabled thing either. This is for everyone on the planet earth. If my perspective is that I will not be safe leaving my house, what are the chances I am going to be leaving my house on my own? Those who work in the disability field meet individuals everyday who struggle with the above concerns. It is probably one of the reasons you hear Orientation and Mobility Instructors say to practice your skills.

It can be a vicious cycle you repeat over and over again. Fear is that emotion that stops you. When you change your mindset, it opens you up to a world of possibilities. When your mental health is low, and you may be angry at the world about your disability you are going to interact with others differently than if you were not angry or depressed.

Now that we have talked about how mental health affects your safety let’s take a look at some other mental health factors and develop some action steps we can take.

Permission

Did you know you have full permission to tell someone NO? Well, you do. You’re not public property. People should not put their hands on you without your pression or consent. If you have not given yourself permission to say NO to others let us do it now for you.

You can say NO!!!

For anytime for any reason, you can say no if someone is doing something to you that you do not want to happen. No one should feel violated after an interaction.

Why do we say this? It has been our instructors experience that there are far too many individuals out there who are letting people grab them without their consent. In most interactions such as being grabbed it is an incident. This is when someone does not know what they are doing is wrong. We find it all too common that Blind/ visually impaired individuals are grabbed on a regular basis. In most interactions nothing is said because there are those who do not feel they have the permission to say no. They have to take the help as it is being given.

In our SEED Functional Foundations, we have a concept called Empowering Words. We developed this after realizing that most people say nothing when they are being grabbed. Empowering Words goes into where are you starting on your journey and building up from there. The concept is simply that each person must develop their own words to use when telling people NO. Not everyone is comfortable saying no and then the cycle goes around and around. Empowering words aims in empowering you to say no in your own way, not someone else.

PTSD

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder also known as PTSD is more common than most realize. PTSD is often associated with veterans however for the disabled community this can occur in everyday events. In this section we will discuss who can get PTSD. How PTSD can occur and provide you with some coping strategies if you already have PTSD.

Who can get PTSD? The short answer is anyone. No one person is exempt from possibly experiencing it. In our everyday lives there are interactions and experiences that can lead to someone having PTSD.

How can someone get PTSD? As we said above it can happen in everyday life. Below we are going to provide you with a list of a few things that can give someone PTSD.

Being grabbed by a stranger- This is so common we had to put it at the top of the list. Often when an individual is grabbed what happens afterwards is different every time. In some interactions there are very negative experiences. Some individuals are grabbed and dragged to an unfamiliar area. This creates quite a bit of stress for a blind / visually impaired individuals resulting in PTSD.
Traveling in a vehicle- For those of you who have been in a car accident or any other vehicle to vehicle impact will have different things that trigger their PTSD. It could be the sudden stop in a vehicle or loud vehicles close to them. Individuals who have been hit by a vehicle when walking can experience similar responses.
Abuse of any kind- There is unfortunately several different ways one can be abused. These abuses can result in a wide range of PTSD. Each type of abuse can give one different type of PTSD and triggers associated with them. When children experience abuse it can be a lifelong struggle with their PTSD. Often individuals may not even understand why they are being triggered from childhood trauma and coping strategies can be developed at a subconscious level.
Becoming diagnosed with a disability- For some there are experiences that create lifelong disabilities resulting in PTSD. For others just the experience of being diagnosed can be traumatic depending on how others around you responded to your diagnosis. Sometimes families and friends can have negative responses to your diagnosis. These responses can give individuals PTSD to the point they may not want to share a disability with a new person in their life for fear on how they may respond. Masking the disability is also a common coping strategy for this type of PTSD.

These are just a few to get you thinking on how PTSD can occur in our day to day lives. When individuals quote gets PTSD, it is from negative experiences. Its experiences that affected you at a deep level and often takes therapy to fully work through it. Some may develop different coping strategies to handle their PTSD.

Before we discuss some coping strategies let’s look at how PTSD may look for those who have not experienced it. Everyone can show different signs of PTSD. For our purposes we will discuss the most common ways you may notice signs of PTSD.

Reliving the event- This can occur through flashbacks, vivid dreams and other forms. This can occur at anytime for multiple reasons. This can also look like invasive thoughts.
Altered feelings or moods- this can also look like hypervigilance, anger or being upset. This can also look like someone is jumpy or startle easy. This can also include symptoms of anxiety as well.
Avoidance of feelings or memories- this can show in staying busy. One may avoid areas of the memory. You may not be able to remember all the details. Feeling of numb or cut off from your feelings about the memory. Overwhelming feelings of anger, sadness, guilt or shame.
Difficult beliefs or feelings- One may not feel they can trust anyone. It can also feel like no place is safe for you. Sometime individuals may blame themselves for what happened. Some may feel no one will understand what they are going through.

These are just a few different ways that one with PTSD may react. Again, this is a short list and is meant to highlight the main symptoms. Any symptoms from PTSD should be noted. Each person has their quote go to responses/symptoms they may do.

Coping Strategies

Here are some coping strategies you can try if you are someone who has PTSD. If you are having more symptoms than not, we strongly encourage you to seek a professional. We will discuss the different types of therapy later. Here are just a few strategies. You can always share any others you have found that are helpful.

Deep Breathing- SEED knows breathing helps with so much. Most do not breath normal or natural breaths when they are feeling stressed. Take a moment and do some deep breaths. You could also include this with your Personal Internal Assessment PIA.
Progressive Muscle Relaxation- You can do this from a standing or sitting position. Focus on one muscle and relax it. Then you go to different muscles doing the same thing until your muscles in your body feel relaxed.
Mindfulness- in simplest terms it is just becoming present in the moment. When stress and anxiety are high, we are often thinking of the past or future. Its important to focus on the present moment.
Self-Monitoring- SEED has taken this to a whole other level by creating the personal Internal Assessment PIA. It helps you develop things to look at for self-monitoring.
Social support- we go further in depth on this topic later in this module.
Self-soothing- this can be done by many forms. You could also look this up by the term stemming. This has become more common due to different disabilities discussing their coping strategies. Some examples are rocking in a rocking chair, coloring, fidget spinners, chewing on items and so much more.
Expressive writing- This can take many forms. You could write in detail what you are struggling with, or you can go the other way and write a fantasy story. This can also be done in everyday journaling or writing. This pairs nicely with mindfulness.
Behavioral Activation- getting out of your mind and making your body be active is a good strategy. You can take a walk around the block, exercise, play a game with family or friends and more.

Those are just a few of the most popular strategies for coping with PTSD. These strategies are not going to help you after just one use. For some of these you may have to practice often. This can also depend on how much your PTSD affects your day-to-day life. Anything to do with your mental health is going to take time and a lot of patience. Not only with yourself but others. You can also share your coping strategies with your social support and that can be helpful too.

We hope this gives you some basic information about PTSD. There is quite a bit of information out there about PTSD. There is also different types of support out there as well. Remember PTSD is unique to each person and shows up in unique ways as well.

Behaviors and Mental Health

When it comes to behaviors and how it involves mental health could be a lifetime process. For our purposes we are referring to behavioral habits. The things you do everyday, most of the time without even thinking about it. You know the voice that says go open the fridge and you have no idea why you did it. If your depressed, you are not going to be reaching out to your friends for a chat. Avoiding the outside world in general weather its in person or online. These would be some signs of what would be referred to as poor mental health.

Here at SEED, we like to focus on the positive instead of the negative and it’s the same for our behaviors. Everyone has things they do that shows signs of their mental health not being where it should be. Be aware of what those things are for you so you can possibility recognize and then analyze. You may need to do a self care kind of a thing and then we respond on taking action on that thing we need to do to change or shift our mental health to a better channel. Wow! We worked recognize analyze and respond right into the mental health and safety.

Now for that list of positive or self care behaviors to try and then at the end you can write your list. Feel free to use some of our examples to get you started.

Meditate
Yoga
Take a walk around the block
Pet your animal
Take a nap
Take a bath
Dance party for 1 or more
Drink water
Take time for a hobby
Bake
Write a list of what you are grateful for
Play a game
Appreciate the little things

These are just a few different ideas for you to choose from. We like to provide you with options here at SEED. Depending on what your interest are or behaviors/ habits you want to develop could also be added into your own personal list. You do not to have a large list. Try and choose 5 different ideas to get you started. Remember to keep it in moderation. We don’t want you becoming a mermaid because you’re in the bath so much or anything like that.

Our main message to you is here is to find what works for you. Everyone is different and different behaviors work better for some than others.

Triggers

If we are talking mental health and safety, we must talk about triggers. Now when most of us think of triggers we tend to think of it as a negative response. There are positive ones as well we just do not associate them as triggers. Before we get further let’s make sure you have a good understanding on what a trigger and common triggers.

Negative triggers at last are becoming more of a conversation in the mental health world. We wanted to talk about it because we recognize negative triggers are often an everyday occurrence for those with disabilities. One of our main ones is blind/visually impaired individuals being grabbed or touched without consent. In a majority of the interactions is an incident and the person does not wish to cause harm to the individual they are grabbing or touching.

Let’s walk through it. You are a totally blind individual walking and going to the bus stop. As you approach you are grabbed by a random stranger. No hello! Can I help you? Or anything. At this point anyone is going to be triggered. Who is grabbing me? What are their intentions towards me?? Am I in Danger? Stranger Danger!!!

There are those who have experienced negative experiences from being grabbed like this. It is going to make all the bells and whistles off in your mind, body and spirit. This would be called a trigger and a negative one at that. Now let’s think of what some negative triggers could be.

Loud Noises
Doors closed
Certain Individuals
types of music
types of touch
tones of voice

Everyone has their own personalized ones. We recommend you analyze what yours might be and how it can after your safety. There are “tools” one could use in managing their triggers. Below we will provide some examples of those “tools” and how its helped others.

Pack ready- This tool is used for those who want to know where certain items are always. You pack it up. Find yourself a nice backpack that can hold the items you are finding essential. There are lots of videos out there on what you put in an everyday carry bag.
Communication- If there are certain people you would not prefer to be around then communicating that with those closest to you is beneficial. They can assist you in avoiding those certain individuals. If its tones of voice, you can communicate those aggressive tones of voice are not going to be acceptable around you. This does not mean you will avoid it entirely, but it will minimize how many time you may get triggered.
Setting Boundaries- If certain behaviors are triggering to you then setting a boundary of no longer spending as much time with that person might be a good place to start. If people get offended by you setting a boundary it says more about them than it does you.

Positive Triggers are sounds pictures or smells that can spark you to be in an excellent mood. Some associate this with attending church. Hearing church music can uplift you if you attend church. For those who don’t attend church it could a song you hear on the radio that gets you singing along or dancing/ tapping your toes. Let’s list what are some positive triggers we can do.

Change your ringtone- If you have a song that just gets you excited when you hear it, make it your ringtone or text tone. Then when it stops working change it again.
Spray lavender on your sheets before making your bed- If you are someone has sleep troubles this might work great for you. When you lift the blanket at night you will in hail the lavender and it can trigger your mind its time for sleep.
Bingo night- for some being around others can trigger positive feelings. If hanging around people is not your thing, we do not recommend this one.

If you notice our ideas are not visual for a reason. We can trigger our brain without using vision. If you have suggestions to add here, we welcome them.

Now just like your behaviors we want you to think about your negative and positive triggers and write them down some way. You will be referring to this list when doing your Personal Internal Assessment. PIA. In PIA you will analyze what has happened in a situation or interaction and evaluate if something triggered you and after analyzing then respond with a positive trigger or habit/ behavior. You can learn more about that in the Personal Internal Assessment module.

Triggering Behaviors

Now that we have gotten this far lets look at something that could be triggering or a behavior. It would be personal organization, both physically and mentally.

Physical / mental organization

You know those people who like things a certain way? This section may give you a better understanding on why they may be that way. Probably not the total reason but a part of it. For some having items in a certain place can cause mental peace and when something is not where they left it, there is mental distress.

How it works. For those of you who are white cane users. How does your mind feel when you go to get your white cane and it is right where you left it? Now think of those times when you could not find it. How was your mindset then? We are guessing a world of difference. For veterans this can be a variety of tools. If it was an item that was essential to their job and peoples lives depended on it, they must know where those items are at ALL times. In their mind its life or death for someone.

Now this can be your mental organization. As humans we are not great at multi-tasking. If there are multiple things going on in the mind it can get disorganized and cause anxiety, then turning into feeling unsafe and on guard when going out in public or interacting with others. No one wants that.

Now we know life happens and things get moved around. You can try placing trackers on your items. You can find trackers from different companies and different sizes. You could attach one to your favorite white cane. You can always talk with those you live with yo talk to them about how staying organized benefits you and see if they can improve how much they move items around.

For mental organization we recommend brain dumps. If you have not heard these are just you are writing everything down on a laptop or in a journal that is on your mind. This can help you to find themes or organize your thoughts. You don’t have to keep these. Its purpose is to help you recognize and analyze what’s on your mind and then if you need to respond you can do that or not. Your choice. Daily writing is also beneficial for mental health. It can be a tool you can use to prevent overwhelm or a tool to help you think through a stressful situation or interaction.

Mentally Identifying with Safety

In the last few years there has been a lot of talk about identifying. What group are you a part of? What do you identify yourself as? We would like you to look at how you identify with safety. Does your identity as an individual say anything about safety? Now for some this is an easy question. They may have martial arts experience. For others they may be good at speaking up for themselves. Then for others there is not really anything to speak of.

This does not mean we want you to go join the gym and workout a bunch or start taking a self-defense class right away. If you have not been able to figure it out, there are daily things you can do to build your safety identity. Throughout this module we have provided you with a few different lists to choose from. It is the daily habits/ behaviors that help us form our identity. Just like boundaries we are not suggesting you announce it to the world you identify as a safe individual. When you start taking small action steps or daily strives everyday people will notice without you saying a word.

Now if there are those of you who are still thinking that is not me. I am not one of those kinds of people who needs that big level. As we stated before it’s the small actions. We will go back to the movie “Inside Out” because it gives a great example of mental health. In the movie there are the “personality Islands” For a long time the islands were one way and after experiencing a stressful event in life they started to come down. They had to be torn down to create new ones.

This could also be said for us as humans. Sometimes you have to breakdown once and a while and then rebuild. The rebuilding process can take time. What if there was a safety island that just became part of you. It would have boundaries and probably a PA system to shout things when you needed to speak up for yourself. It could also have a nice lake for some self-care when you need it. Honestly the options are endless. You could put anything on that island that makes you feel physically or mentally safe. You could even put a blanket fort there for emergency use only.

How do you want to identify safety for you? We will give some examples and you can create your own list.

You keep your front door locked.
You take walks around your block often.
You practice self-care once a week.
You study safety education information like this class.
You practice your SEED Functional Foundations often, if not daily.
You call a doctor or mental health professional in times when you need it.
You keep your area organized so you know where things are.
You speak up when someone has broken one of your boundaries.
Practice your O&M skills often.
You practice your personal Internal Assessment PIA often and use as needed.

Hopefully after reading our list, it has provided you with some options for your own island. You may have more to add to our list and can discuss more options if you’re in a group setting. Just like in fitness, safety is not an all-consuming thing in your life. For our purposes in some ways, they go hand in hand. Both fitness and safety experts would tell you the same.

Here is the fun part. Let’s create your island. You can write down the description of what is on your island. Who is there? Are there a few people there or is it a party? Is there a blanket fort in the corner? Do we have nice clean boundaries around the island or are they messy and need some work?

No matter what you are putting there it’s your choice. You can create the island for how you would like to be and reread it often so you can subconsciously start doing those things. Our minds do quite a bit of work in the background. It will notice things that you may not. When you reread your island description it almost becomes daily affirmations for yourself. If there is work that needs to be done on your island, then just know it is going to take time. Be patience with yourself. If you need guidance there is a SEED Instructor there to assist / guide you.

There is a limit to what our SEED Instructors can help you with. Especially when it comes to mental health issues. In those cases, we recommend that you seek a mental health professional or a support group. Below we also give you informal examples to assist you in your mental health.

Mental Health Support

Mental Health support can come in all shapes and sizes. For some they may need these resources long term and others it may be a short-term thing. No matter what you need if you need it then get the support. In this section we will talk about formal and informal supports.

Formal Mental Health Support

For this we are referring to trained professionals. They have a minimum of 4 years in education and hopefully some training to keep up to date on new mental health trainings or techniques. In most cases these are the ones that cost more but if you need them, they are worth it. When you think of these it would be one on one sessions.

There are some formal support groups out there that are facilitated by certified professionals. These groups are commonly grouped together with certain disabilities or health concerns or family members disabilities. As we stated earlier accepting a disability is a process. For some the process can be easier with others.

Those who have struggled in these groups will tell you that sometimes the groups are for when they need it. Then there are the times you show up because others need it.

Informal mental health support

Support groups would also fit into this section. Sometimes there is not a trained professional in these groups. The leader of the group can just have a large knowledge on the topic the group is created to do.

This goes in the informal category but here it is. Social media groups are a resource you can use to find like minded individuals on whatever topic you would like to discuss. In some of these groups there are trained professionals that could give you ideas and in others it’s just peer to peer support. For some this can be beneficial short term but is not a long-term solution if there is quite a bit of mental health work you are needing to work on.

You can also talk with friends who may have gone through a similar experience as you are working through. Now this does not mean you wine and cry to them on a regular basis. Not many people are fans of the on-going complainer. What this does mean is there is people out there who will listen to you. If you struggle to talk about it share that part as well. Struggling in silence does not help and can bring more frustration.

No matter which style you use or weather its online or in person here are some additional items to consider when thinking of the formal route.

Are they covered by your insurance? For those of you on Federal Medicaid you know that resources for mental health is quite limited. If this is your option, you must go with what you can and maybe seek additional support from other places.
Where will you meet them? For those of us who have transportation concerns this is something to keep in mind when planning on going counseling. You will want to ensure you can make your appointments in a timely manner. Who can take you? Is it affordable to take an Uber? Does public transportation go there? These are some questions you may want to ask yourself.
How much is it? Even if you have Medicaid there are places that will not take it, so cash it is. How much are the sessions? Can you afford that with your current income?

No matter your choice if you need support, get it. There are those of us out there who think we can handle i. We don’t need help. Or the other case of the I am just going to avoid it and hope it goes away or I will forget it. We know your out there. Mental health is something you do not delay. It will come back at some point in your life. Do your future self a favor and deal with it now.

Support services

For each concern or disability or mental health concern there is a service out there. We recommend you use our friend Google and research which ones can benefit your mental health the most. There are groups out there that provide support for multiple disabilities. Such as blindness and Diabetes. If you have recommendations for us to share with our students, we welcome that information. We can only share what we currently know, and we are always interested in learning more.

Self-care and Self-awareness

For some self-care sounds like a foreign language. Of course, self-care is only become a popular term in the last couple decades. You didn’t hear them telling World WarII veterans to do some self care after all that fighting? No way. Overtime we have come to learn that it can be very beneficial and not quite the odd duck that it is.

As we said there are positive triggers that can also be classified as self care. When we say self-care, we are wanting you to be self-aware enough to recognize you you may need it from time to time. For some this could be having a beer. For others its going for a walk. Take some time and write down some self care items you could do at home or even when you are traveling.

No matter the options you give yourself try and give yourself some options. There may be times you’re not in the mood for a certain thing and then other times you are. Our biggest recommendation for self care is moderation. If you’re always mentally checking out that can do the opposite of the result you are wanting.

Daily Strives

STRIVE4You has Daily strives. These are things you can do in a morning routine or throughout your day if you wish. Its your option. STRIVE4YOU designed this to give out student’s options on things they could do at home when they are away from our instructors or consultants. We will give you some examples on what we are referring to.

Drink water
Read a book
Journal
Mediation
Exercising
Balancing drills
Take a walk around the block
Speaking Daily Affirmations
Visualizing a goal being completed.

The Daily Strives can be mixed and matched. You have the option to do as many or as little as you would like to do. The purpose is to give you actionable steps everyday to increasing your vitality through exercise.