Morton - Are u ok?: a guide to caring for your mental health

Hey, everyone! My name is Kati Morton, and I am a licensed marriage and family therapist. I started off my career in the mental health field in 2008 with the hope of helping people struggling with mental illness. This career choice just so happened to coincide with a massive shift in the way people were communicating about such things. The conversations about mental health were not happening face to face; instead, they were taking place online.

As a therapist who graduated from Pepperdine University, I could offer a great breadth of knowledge. However, due to the constraints of my license and private practice, I was only able to see people in my local community, meaning my experience and expertise were limited to those who lived in the greater Los Angeles area. This limitation didnt make sense to me. Instead of only being able to give people in specific regions access to necessary mental health knowledge, why not share what I knew with people around the world? So I decided to start a YouTube channel.

I have been creating mental health videos on YouTube for over seven years with the goal of making information more readily available to all. To date, I have made over a thousand videos addressing peoples various mental health concerns, and I believe that by talking about mental health in such a public way, the stigma surrounding it can finally cease to exist.

Through my audience, I have become acutely aware of how broken our mental health care systems around the world are. Many in the United Kingdom report having to wait a year to see a therapist, while in the United States we find ourselves battling to get our out-of-pocket costs covered. And these issues dont even touch on the fact that most people are afraid to seek help due to the negative way our media portrays mental illness. I believe my continued engagement in this arena could be a key to significant change, and what ultimately led me to create this book.

As much as we talk about mental health online and in person, we need to learn to crawl before we can run. I hear from people every day asking fundamental questions about their rights in therapy, how to find a good therapist, what type of therapist to look for, etc. Its clear that there is a lack of understanding and communication between mental health professionals and those seeking help. To make sure we are receiving proper care, we need to know what questions to ask, and where to start. Thats where Are u ok? comes in.

I wrote Are u ok? to be your guiding light through the process. By explaining how to know when we need help, and sharing the different types of assistance available, I hope you leave feeling equipped with all the fundamental knowledge necessary to make a positive change in your life. To date, videos on my channel have been viewed over twenty-seven million times, so know that whatever you are feeling or are worried about, you are not alone.

Stigma and fear can only survive when kept secret. By talking more openly and honestly about mental health, we are shining a light on it, proving that it doesnt have to be so scary, and that we all struggle sometimes. So work with me to shed some light on mental health, remind people its nothing to be ashamed of, and let those around us know there is help available. Hope is such a powerful thingif we work together, we can ensure this conversation continues and the stigma associated with mental illness disappears for good.