STAR Institute | Sensory Health Saves Lives | Mizba's Story | Sensory Awareness

Sensory Health Saves Lives - for the final sensory awareness month story we are following Mizba's journey and the beginning is bleak. Mizba is like many people living with unidentified differences in sensory processing - she works extra hard everyday, all day, and it leaves her tired and depleted.

Sometimes differences in sensory integration mean that we register or notice sensation but we are unable to discriminate what it means. When this happens we can easily be confused in busy dynamic situations where we are asked to multi-task and organize ourselves on tight deadlines. We may need to go slower than our peers in order to respond appropriately to task demands. Every year students in middle and high school who have “held it together” despite differences in sensory processing suddenly hit a crisis point as school demands and sensory-motor demands converge and become too much, too heavy, and unbearable. By this point, mental health support and Occupational Therapy usually need to work together to provide effective support for building psychological well-being.

Struggling to overcome unidentified differences in sensory integration and processing can result in delays in developing social competence, confidence and problem-solving skills. Our resilience - our ability to recover from stress - can be compromised and we become at risk for dramatic declines in mental health.

If you, a family member, friend or colleague expresses thoughts of self-harm or suicide please call your national suicide prevention lifeline immediately. In the USA this number is 800-273-8255.

See the rest of Mizba's story at https://bit.ly/STARMizba

#sensoryhealth #sensoryeducation #sensoryprocessing #sensoryintegration #mentalhealth #sensorydiscrimination