Mental Health Action Day

For a recap of MHAD 2021, click below


What is Mental Health Action Day?

To address a global mental health crisis in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and amid the continued struggle of our military and veteran community, Forest 2 Home, the MTV Entertainment Group, and more than 700 organizations, brands, government agencies, and cultural leaders have signed on to be part of the inaugural Mental Health Action Day (MHAD) on Thursday, May 20 during Mental Health Awareness Month. We encourage our community to take the first step towards mental health action -- whether for yourself or for your loved ones. Resources and tools will be available for people to seek help in a myriad of ways including how to leverage woodworking to remove stress of daily life as well as stress that come from even serious conditions like PTSD.

Get involved

Forest 2 Home invites you to join us and several industry leaders as we go LIVE on social media to talk wood shop, mental health, and so much more. Follow us on Instagram (@shopf2h) to be notified when we go live.

Tuesday, May 18 - Gear Up for MHAD with Char at 10am EST

To get ready for Mental Health Action Day, we are going Live with mother, maker, and maven Char Miller-King (@woodenmaven)! Char left corporate America in 2015, after deciding to follow a love that started growing in 2003: woodworking. We will talk about Char's experience as a minority woodworker, breaking the stigma around mental health, and how to stay sane while being a modern day superhero.

Thursday, May 20 Instagram Live Speaker Schedule

9:00am EST - Promoting Mental Health On Duty and at Home

Start the day off with active duty woodworker Jon Femenella (@txyankeecarpentry), Bryan Luke (@dogwoodcustombuilds) Forest 2 Home on an Instagram Live. Our conversation will focus on well-being while on duty, and at home, and the impact woodworking can have on mental health. Jon was recently sent on his fourth deployment and will join us from his station in South Korea.

10:00am EST - The Builders Challenge: MHAD Edition

The Builders Challenge (thebuilderschallenge) welcomes builders of all skill level from the novice folks who are just beginning to some of the finest craftspeople out there. Adam Beasley and Raechal Petris will go Live with us on Instagram to issue a special TBC MHAD Challenge (yes, prizes will be given) and to talk mental health in building.

12:00pm EST - Popular Woodworking & Woodsmith Magazine

Join our Instagram Live at lunch with Editor in Chief of Popular Woodworking Magazine Logan Wittmer and Editor in Chief of Woodsmith Magazine Phil Huber to learn more about the importance of mental health, and how people can take action. You don't want to miss this - our partners are giving out an awesome freebie!

2:00pm EST - Maternal Mental Health Fireside Chat

Christina Shuler (@glamfarmhouse) is no stranger to a packed schedule. She recently added an extra to-do, which is no small feat: create human life. Christina will share, on Instagram Live, how she manages to find the time for herself and share recommendations on how to take action on maternal mental health.

4:00pm EST - Maintaining Mental Health as a Military Spouse

We will be going Live on Instagram with Jessie Ecker (@eyeinthedetail) who has been a military spouse for the last 11 years and who was also grew up as a military brat. Jessie will join us to speak about her experience as the spouse of a military man and how she maintained mental her health.

5:00pm EST - Mental Health Check in with an Actual Psychologist

By day Sam Raimondi (@diyhuntress) is a full time psychologist and by night she is a DIYer and woodworker. Sam dedicated her life's work to mental health and will share on an IG Live what she knows, including first hand experience. If you work from home or have people in your life who learn virtually, this is for you.

5:30pm EST - Rx: Hands On Activity for Creativity and Self-Expression

Medical school, residency, isolation, new city, the list goes on. It's safe to say Austin Hager (@the_wood_doc) has experienced his fair share of stress, as he noted in a recent article. Now that Austin has finished med school and is training as a resident physician, we will talk how he persevered through the difficulty.

7:00pm EST - Entrepreneurship and Wellbeing: Find Your Balance

Ben Uyeda (@benjaminuyeda) stepped away from the award-winning architecture firm he co-founded, as well as an Ivy League teaching position, to develop new companies. Can a serial entrepreneur balance such a heavy work load and wellbeing? Join our Instagram Live with Ben to find out.

8:00pm EST - Breaking Down the Stigma around Mental Health

After surviving a suicide attempt at age 16, coming out with only blindness, John Furniss (@theblindwoodsman) has learned to see the world and certain aspects of it, like mental health, in new ways. Join us as we hear John's story, what he does to combat the stigma around mental health, and actions you can take to join the fight.

Other ways to get involved:

• To get our "big MHAD email" packed with FREE, awesome stuff including lists of mental health tools and resources, opportunities to get a special kit delivered right to your door, highlights from our Live chats, and freebies from our partners, sign up using the form below.

• We challenge you to push the culture of mental health from awareness to action by inspiring people to take the first action to support themselves and others. Know someone who could benefit from MHAD? Share this initiative with your community to get as many as possible involved.

Our partners

Thank you to our partners for joining us and furthering the mission of Mental Health Action Day!