 At Audiology Associates of Prestonsburg, you can live your life the way you want and find the freedom of better hearing. With 40 years of being in the hearing care industry, you'll experience patient care that is specific to you with exceptional follow-up care that ensures your hearing and balance needs are being met. Audiology Associates at 1428 North Lake Drive in Prestonsburg. While mental health services are becoming more and more accessible in rural communities, the stigma surrounding mental health often prevents residents from seeking help. So stigma misconceptions and myths are significant barriers to mental health care in rural areas. Stigmas attached to mental illness are based on community misconceptions and myths that imply that mental health care is only for certain groups of people, usually those that are judged to be weak or crazy. The truth is that the only people without mental health are those who aren't living and possibly in a coma. The single one factor, influential factor in I guess fighting or developing stigma is having one friend or family member that speaks openly and accepting of mental illness. And so just having that one person in our immediate circle who is accepting of mental illness and views it as a normal part of life, which it is, or a normal part of health, which it is, opens the door for those around them to be able to do the same. According to the CDC, mental illnesses are among the most common health conditions in the United States with over 50% of Americans being diagnosed with a mental illness at some point in their lifetime. People shouldn't be afraid to reach out to a licensed mental health professional because even in rural areas such as this, confidentiality is primary and a key factor. I always tell my clients, I can't even say hi to you in public unless you say hi to me first. So other mental health professionals are not even going to acknowledge unless you acknowledge first you have full control over the other people's awareness of that relationship. You get to choose whether others, what they know about it or don't know about it basically. You know, we are bound to HIPAA laws that say that we aren't allowed to talk to any other people about what you say within session. I think a lot of people don't know that mental health is held to a higher standard of confidentiality than even physical health. So there are some loopholes that one doctor can use to get records from another about physical health that don't apply to therapeutic records. Mental health also plays a large role in your physical well-being. So mental health and physical health work together to create a healthy system overall. Our body is compiled of multiple systems. You might recognize the respiratory system, the skeletal system, the nervous system, and mental health should be considered just one more of those systems. Mental health influences our ability to cope with normal life stressors and function productively across several life domains, one of which is physical health. Mental health involves the influence of thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, and values on the development of healthy habits and overall life satisfaction. For more information and to schedule an appointment for mental health services, call 1-606-886-8546. Reporting for Mountaintop News, I'm Brianna Robinson.