Panhandle PBS will air the documentary series “The Little Things” at 7 pm on Thursdays beginning September 15. The broadcast version can be found online at panhandlePBS.org/TheLittleThings.
More people around the world Googled “how to maintain mental health” in 2021 than ever before. Between the pandemic, politics and personal matters, we are stressed. Panhandle PBS asked local and national experts for their advice, and the research behind it.
The result is a new in-depth mental health series that will premiere Thursday at 7 pm on Panhandle PBS, panhandlePBS.org and on the station’s social media channels.
Intentional breathing. To be aware. Exercise, connection, creativity – those aren’t just buzzwords. They are science-based strategies to help us build resilience. The episodes are packed with tips for rewiring your brain with new, easy habits. They explain what happens in our brains and bodies when we experience anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues, and what happens when we practice resiliency strategies.
“Our brains weren’t meant to contain the pain of the whole world,” Missy Gray, a licensed professional counseling supervisor from Amarillo, says in the series, according to a press release. “They were made, evolutionarily, to contain the pain of our community. And with the evolution of social media… now, we have to bear trauma from everyone all the time. And I think we’re just not ready for that.”
Gray joined 30 other local mental health care experts and consumers to share strategies, personal successes and struggles in interviews for “The Little Things” series.
Nationally renowned experts who contributed information include Andy Keller, executive director of the Texas-based Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute, Dr. Uma Naidoo, nutritional psychiatrist and author of “This Is Your Brain on Food.” , and Florence Williams, author of “The Fixing Nature.”
The series is presented in association with the Panhandle Behavioral Health Alliance and the Texas Panhandle Centers Behavioral and Developmental Health. Bank of America, Amarillo Area Foundation, Amarillo College, Northwest Texas Healthcare System, Street Toyota, and the Texas Tech Physicians Department of Psychiatry provided support for the series.
