b'RReessoouurrcceessNational Alliance on Mental HealthFind Your NAMIhttps://www.nami.org/ndsupport Use this search tool to nd the local NAMI chapter for your community. Ontheir page, you will nd tools to help you locate free or low-cost mental healthcarein your area.Open Path Psychotherapy Collectivehttps://openpathcollective.org/open-path-sta/ This nonprot matches low- and middle-income individuals with aordableoptions for therapy and counseling.Mental Health Maintenance As we have discussed, mental health conditions are physical health conditions.This means things that can improve your physical health also contribute to yourmental health. These include activity, nutrition, sleep, and stress management.These activities help to balance your hormones and neurochemicals and restoreyour bodys natural balance.Does this mean that if you exercise, eat right, get plenty of sleep, and practicerelaxation that your mental health condition will go away? That is unfortunately not thecase for most people, especially those with MS. Mental health conditions typicallyrequire treatment through medication or counseling, at least for a period of time. However,doing these things can help your mental health improve, or maintain that improvementafter treatment. And for people without mental health conditions, there is evidencethat forming these good habits will decrease your risk of developing one.There are also complementary alternative medicine practices that have beenshown to have a positive eect on mental health. Perhaps this is because they involveactivity, reduce stress, and promote good sleep, or perhaps because of some otherinuence that is yet to be identied. Here are a few that have demonstrated somebenet in studies.FFiinnddMMoorreeIInnffoorrmmaattiioonnFor more information about the importance of exercise, nutrition, sleep, andstress management in MS, request the booklet Lets Find Better Days from MSFocus. Call 888-MS Focus (888-673-6287) or email support@msfocus.org. Orfind the address of the online order form for our publications in the resourcesbox on page 20.18'