This year for Mental Health Awareness Month, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is putting a spotlight on the topic of resilience through our new campaign, In This Together: Building Emotional Resilience in Ourselves and Our Communities.

Throughout the month, we'll be encouraging people to think about what best helps them cope with challenges, whether it means the kind of everyday struggles we all face sometimes, or more serious psychological distress. This May, we’re encouraging people to move beyond basic “self-care” to consider true resilience: game-changing strategies we can take to encourage our personal resilience, and the ways we support –– and find support within –– our communities.

It may seem simple, but scientific evidence reveals the deep impact things like sleep, exercise, social connections with others, and being mindful of what we eat and drink –– not to mention engaging in therapy or medication when we need it –– can have on our overall health and the way we manage stress. We can also build resilience in ourselves and our communities by uniting in a common cause by walking or advocating for suicide prevention, educating the people around us about mental health, and making sure we know how to support those around us who have been affected by suicide.

Visit our Mental Health Awareness Month webpage to learn more about building resilience, and to stay up to date on all the exciting events happening at AFSP throughout the month of May. Here are just a few of our upcoming events:

May 1 –– Our annual Lifesavers Gala takes place this year on Thursday, May 1, at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. Attendees and those wanting to support the event will have the exciting opportunity to participate in our auction, which is open now through Thursday, May 1, at 8:50 p.m. ET.

May 6 — The next episode of AFSP’s Strong Talk podcast will feature AFSP Vice President for Health Equity and Engagement Victor (Vic) Armstrong, MSW, in conversation with AFSP Minnesota Chapter volunteer Ray Stenglein about mental health and suicide prevention in the construction industry, as part of Construction Safety Week.

May 8 @ 2 p.m. ET — Learn about interventions that can reduce suicide risk and health care costs by registering for the webinar, Reducing Suicide Risk Through Primary Care: How the Collaborative Care Model can Help Save Lives.

May 15 @ 3 p.m. ET — In the latest #RealConvo Concert combining interview and musical performance, AFSP Director of Writing and Entertainment Outreach Brett Wean is joined by musician Jonah Marais of the renowned band Why Don’t We. Marais is now a solo artist featured in Amazon's 2025 Artists to Watch campaign, and opens up about his own mental health journey and how he finds resilience.

This May and beyond, let’s unite for a common cause that affects us all: building resilience for our own mental health, and the mental health of our communities. Because we’re all in this together.