Despite heightened awareness, the rates of mental health complications, suicides, and overdoses are soaring... Why? Mental health care remains reactive. In physical health, we track ranges in everything from bodyweight to blood pressure to act early. So, why not do the same for mental health?
Through our education and advocacy efforts we’re disrupting the status quo and working to change the culture of mental health to one of inclusion.
Our science-backed SCALE gives you clarity and empowers you to proactively track your range of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors along a mental health continuum, all in a shareable app. This common language helps you and your community take control before the impacts of life's inevitable challenges accumulate in our minds and bodies, and become crises.
The SCALE App isn’t just for individuals—it’s a way for schools, workplaces, sports teams, military groups, and more to regularly monitor a collective range in mental health. With everyone speaking the same language, your community can build a culture prioritizing mental health daily.
Complete organized check-ins with individuals & groups
Share results and engage with your support network
Prevent crises & foster well being with proactive insights
We collaborate with a variety of groups and organizations to integrate our tools into their systems, making mental health part of their culture. We’ll work with your group’s members to develop a shared mental health language, empowering them to be the heroes of their own mental wellness journeys.
If you’re looking to proactively strengthen your mental health, build resilience, and move toward a healthier place on the SameHere Scale, you’re in the right place. Just like physical health requires a gym, mental health needs intentional and consistent practice. That’s where our STARR Program, or Stress & Trauma Active Release & Rewiring, comes in. Backed by leading researchers in mind and body wellness, STARR provides evidence-based exercises with guided video, audio, and step-by-step instructions to support your journey.
Bring #SameHere Programs to Your Organization
Our team offers in-person and virtual programs, assemblies, town halls, and professional development sessions tailored to your group. These programs embed the SameHere Scale and STARR into your organization’s ecosystem, helping transform your culture and empower your people.
Focus on emotional resilience, peer support, and coping skills to promote mental well-being for K-12 and college students.
Help military personnel and first responders manage stress, address trauma, and build resilience in their high-stakes roles.
Build a culture of employee wellness, reduce burnout, improve productivity, and go far beyond what a traditional EAP offers.
Foster team resilience, teamwork, and mental well-being in athletes on and off the field, helping them to manage stress effectively.
5 in 5 Inc. is here to help you take control of your mental wellness. Download the Scale App, explore the STARR Program, or bring our solutions to your organization. Together, we can use common language and exercises to reshape how mental health is understood and managed.
Become a Certified STARR Coach
Want to take your skills further beyond the practices in the app? We offer STARR certification courses and bring these practices to your organization or community. STARR can be integrated into systems at:
Equip educators with proactive mental health tools to support students' emotional resilience and foster a culture of well-being.
Integrate STARR practices to empower healthcare professionals and patients in managing stress and improving mental health outcomes.
Provide innovative, evidence-based exercises and certification training to enhance client recovery and promote lasting mental wellness.
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All-World defenseman and Lightning Captain Victor Hedman just shared that his recent leave of absence was to focus on his mental health.
Like 10 minutes ago!
This is what leaders do.💙⚡️
As a fellow Swede, we are proud that Robin Lehner’s pioneering openness as an active player (and wearing that SameHere on his helmet) might’ve helped pave the way for moments like this.
Two elite Swedish NHL players showing that mental health doesn’t care how big your paycheck is or how many trophies you’ve won. If you’re struggling, you are not alone — and you are in good company.
Proud & encouraged to see players show up with vulnerability on the biggest stages in sports.
👉 Swipe to see Victor’s full statement and Robin’s original helmet with the Blackhawks, before he wore the hashtag on all of his helmets and pads in Vegas with the Golden Knights.
Share with a Bolts fan, NHL fan, sports fan, or just human - who needs to hear this. Let’s keep normalizing the conversation, together.
#GoBolts #MentalHealthMatters #VictorHedman #TampaBayLightning #NHL
We all see the highlight reels when people in our lives make posts…or when those people are tagged by others on their posts.
We see smiles. We see progress. We see control.
But here’s the part most people don’t understand:
When someone in your life seems to be “doing well” or “thriving,” they might actually be using almost every ounce of their energy on the hard, invisible work of healing.
I can personally speak to this: presenting on stages, traveling to different cities, having those updates on social channels bc it’s what we need to do to get the word out, or bc someone else tags us, but at the same time - not having the energy to call a friend back? Or go to a family member’s for dinner??
What most don’t see is the work you’re doing to stay above water, let alone build reserves. Somatic work. Cognitive work. Nervous system repair.
That deep inner work can leave very little capacity for the back-and-forth of social life — even though people still care deeply about you.
Healing isn’t always clean or pretty. Sometimes it looks like pulling back so we can eventually show up more fully.
If someone you love is in this season, please know: they’re not ignoring you. They’re just doing the hard work necessary - behind the scenes.
And if this is you - share this - on text or on your stories or walls so that you can explain to the folks in your life: it’s not about avoiding them…it’s about showing up for yourself at a time you need it.
#TraumaHealing #NervousSystemHealth #SomaticHealing #BodyKeepsTheScore #burnoutrecovery
Never a group to be shy about pushing conventional thinking in this space, it’s great that Mental Health has an awareness month dedicated to it: but EVERY single day most folks are thinking about going for a walk, or hitting the gym, or what they’re putting into their bodies.
Therefore, most have physical health on their mind, throughout the whole year.
Yet when it comes to mental health, we often wait for one single month to give it attention. And it’s traditionally been treated as a month for “advocates to get loud.”
As advocates we should happily take the extra spotlight in May, but real, lasting change only happens when we help the masses see that we should treat mental health with the same daily care, consistency, and importance as physical health — because the two are inextricably intertwined.
Mental Health Awareness Month should be every month of the year, and every day of those months. That’s not hyperbole. It’s not being overbearing. It’s the only recipe there is for us to get to true normalization.
So let’s all participate, but let’s push for a world where an awareness month isn’t needed as an outlier, bc it’s instead woven into our daily lives and discussions and routines all the time!
#MentalHealthAwarenessMonth #MentalHealthMatters #MentalHealthForAll #MindBodyConnection #WellnessEveryDays
Because it’s hard to get pro athletes to buy in to traditional “therapy” as it’s been typically positioned, we can learn a lot hearing athletes talk extemporaneously about the mental health work they are doing - publicly.
If this is the verbiage they are comfortable with, we need to adjust and start to learn from what actually feels like a normalization trend for them…bc if it works for them, it can work for others who are avoiding being proactive and/or seeking help following the same old language that continues to be used.
Miami Heat’s Jaime Jaquez Jr. in a recent interview wasn’t calling his work - “therapy.” He said he was working with a mental coach.
No deep dives into cognitive distortions or maladaptive coping or unpacking traumas. Just straight talk: “focus on the right things and get rid of the clutter.”
This is how elite athletes are actually leveling up their minds — and it’s the kind of language that makes mental health feel accessible to everyone - store manger, corporate employee, teacher or anyone.
If you’ve been hearing more normalization language like this, please share what’s been working in comments👇. Or what do you want to see changed?
#AthleteMindset #MentalPerformance #MindsetMatters #AthleteMentalHealth #SameHere🤙
I’ve never been one to sugarcoat the hard stuff on here, and today is no exception.
I’m deep in what somatic therapists call Phase Two healing.
After eight years of building a strong foundation with STARR (Stress & Trauma Active Release & Rewiring) Exercises following my severe 2015–mid-2018 MH crash, my nervous system FINALLY felt safe enough to release decades of stored trauma.
It’s intense:
Burning pins-and-needles in my hands and feet 24/7 like I’m wearing prickly socks on all four extremities. New, deep bone-level pain and stiffness in my neck and lower back. Constant peeing, nonstop sneezing, and old psoas tension flaring exactly like it did when I was a kid holding everything in as traumatic event after even unfolded and I was bracing for the worst.
My body is literally expelling years of survival energy all at once.
But here’s the important part — I hope this is a visual example for YOU: Trauma doesn’t only live in our heads.
It hides in our tissues, nervous system, muscles, and organs in corrosive ways… until the body senses enough safety (after real somatic and cognitive restructuring work) and finally lets it all go.
This phase is exhausting and painful.
But it’s also undeniable proof that real healing is underway.
If you’ve carried trauma or long-term stress (and who of us hasn’t to some degree), there’s old energy stored inside you too. When your nervous system finally feels safe, it will start coming out — often loud, messy, and uncomfortable - but a release nonetheless.
You’re not broken when it does.
You’re finally beginning to free yourself.
I’m right here in it with you.
More soon.
Keep going.
You’ve got this.
Let me/us know if this help…
#TraumaHealing #SameHere🤙 #SomaticHealing #BodyKeepsTheScore #TraumaRelease
AI chatbots are now renewing SSRI prescriptions in Utah — no doctor required. So we are now turning the prescribing of psychiatric drugs into even more of a conveyer belt system like we have seen in other classes of meds.
The psychiatric care system in America is already broken. You go to a doctor for a 30 minute visit, fill out a 9+ question form, and leave with one (or in my case the first time I went - four) prescription(s). That system has led, over 30 years to increasing su1c1de and overdose rates, to where we now lose 50k+ to su1c1de and 100k+ to overdose - annually. And we want to do MORE of the same?
This pilot just went live, but the Utah Medical Licensing Board is already demanding it be shut down immediately. We stand with them. These meds can manage symptoms very effectively for many, but they aren’t a cure (they do not address the physiological changes throughout the whole body caused by chronic stress and trauma…they don’t change your eating habits…your supplement deficiencies…your lifestyle choices) and long-term use has risks (that sadly members of our alliance, and millions of people, know all too well).
Easy auto-refills help Pharma’s bottom line while short-changing real healing through root-cause care and the doctor-patient relationship.
You’ll see laws coming where kids in schools (Illinois is the first state I saw) are going to have mandatory screenings for disorders.
Calling it now - combine those laws, with these types of programs in Utah - and a system is being created where the number Americans on psychiatry drugs (already at 20+%) is going to continue to increase substantially.
The formula is to label it, and get folks on a med…not addressing the actual root…and it’s going to make us sicker. And that’s scary.
What do you think — progress or a dangerous shortcut?
What upsides and downsides do you see? Would you want it used but with some other guardrails?
#MentalHealthAwareness #AIPrescriptions #PatientSafety #RootCauseHealing #SameHere🤙
Yesterday was one of the biggest draft days in NY football history. While neither had the number 1 overall pick, the Jets did have the number 2, and they and the Giants combined for a whopping 5 (of the 32) first-round picks (3 in the top 10).
In the country’s largest market, in a sport that has the largest media focus, fan base and sponsors, this is/was a BIG story….especially when you consider both teams were in need of a major facelift given their run of disappointing seasons.
All that said - the New York Post chose this Vrabel/Russini latest drama as their front page, to focus on instead.
It would be one thing if this story didn’t involve the sport’s world to argue - “oh they don’t talk about sports on the front page - so that’s why you don’t see the Jets/Giants draft.” But yeah…yeah they do - even when it’s the coach of a rival team, IF the story gets them more eyeballs.
Media chases whatever gets clicks — even when it means leading with family drama, negativity and drumming up emotional angst, over something else that IS a BIG story, but a positive one.
That constant negativity hurts our collective mental health. We deserve better. No, that’s not us being soft. That’s us being real. Many media outlets now, where there is a blurred line (ie, not much of one) between their headlines/front pages, & what they post on their social channels, resemble the National Enquirer, Globe, and Star more than serious/responsible journalism.
If you take our human nature draw towards the salacious out of it, what types of stories would you rather see on front pages? What uplifting threads? What triumphant storylines? Do you also see how these threads are hurting our collective MH at a time when the trends are going in the wrong direction? Drop your thoughts below in comments👇.
#MentalHealthMatters #MediaLiteracy #SameHere🤙 #NFLDraft2026 #NYFootba
Yesterday we had the opportunity to work w @secvathletics & their coaches/ADs as well as student athletes. What it led to in the last session together didn’t disappoint.
It’s the 3rd yr in a row we’ve worked w this group.
On the coach/AD side, we spoke abt yes - how this topic impacts everyone, even them. Showed them that clip of Coach K getting vulnerable abt his own MH battles. But then had a discussion abt what tools are/aren’t currently available to create true vulnerable connection & lasting culture change in locker rooms/on fields. Even in the biggest leagues in the world - the move is towards “mandated MH professionals” - “go see ‘them’,” & not mandated programming/education/tools.
That’s where we introduced the SameHere Scale: a Polyvagal-informed, psychometrically validated tool for common language, daily/wkly check-ins, convo starters, recommended exercises, & trending (all nondiagnostic).
With the students, I did a deep dive into my own personal story so that they’d feel comfortable opening-up in the combined session.
In that last workshop they had a sheet of paper, four circles, & the instructions were simple: thinking of MH thru the lens not of labels they hear abt on social, but of challenging life events, fill in four you’ve personally faced, select one, use the Scale Guide, & break up into groups based on where on the Scale that event found you. In those groups - pick a captain, share that one event, & see how many others are open to sharing at the table.
Then - pics: captains from each group shared their takeaways. These kids got IT. For a generation that’s been brought up w heads in phones, when you do activities where lead w your own vulnerability, you then encourage them to look each other in the eyes & share their own life challenges, you create spaces of safety, connection, & culture change.
#AthleteMentalHealth #SameHere🤙 #SportsMentalHealth #AthleteWellbeing #MentalHealthMatters
Tragedies like the Justin Fairfax murder-suicide don’t come out of nowhere.
He was a rising political star — Lieutenant Gov of Virginia, once seen as a future Gov. Then came the 2019 sexual assault allegations (which he always denied). His career imploded. By the time he left office in 2022, the unprocessed trauma had taken hold.
Court docs from the couple’s divorce lay it out: daily heavy drinking, complete withdrawal from fam life, locking himself in the home office for days at a time surrounded by empty wine bottles, trash, & piles of dirty laundry — only coming out long enough to grab food or smoke. His wife described it as a dad who was physically present but emotionally gone.
There was even a 2022 incident where, during what the judge called an ‘adverse psychological event,’ he bought a handgun w money meant for the kids’ lessons & had to be talked down by fam & a MH professional.
By 2024 the couple was separated but still under one roof. Divorce filed in 2025. On March 30, 2026 — just 17 days before the shootings — Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Timothy J. McEvoy issued a custody order that explicitly recognized the ‘undefined emotional & psychological issues,’ the ‘sense of fatalism & hopelessness,’ & the fact that Fairfax showed ‘no evidence’ of seeking any professional help. The judge called it ‘very concerning.’
BUT: Virginia law gives the court clear power to order a psych eval (§ 20-124.2) & to condition custody/visitation on completing therapy or treatment. It DIDN’T happen. Fairfax was ordered to move out by April 30. On April 16 he killed his wife, & died by suicide.
Their two teenage kids were home.
In cases like these we can’t stay focused only on the salacious. We have to get in front of distress before it becomes a headline. Courts, fams, friends, workplaces — we all have tools to intervene early. One convo, one mandated eval, one offer of real support could’ve changed everything.
Would love to hear your thoughts on prevention here vs the reactive model focused on salesy headlines 👇.
#JustinFairfax #MurderSuicide #MentalHealthMatters #SameHere🤙 #MissedWarningSigns
Just two days ago: On April 14, 2026, at Target Field in Minneapolis, Boston Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran flipped off a Twins fan after the fan told him to kill himself.
Slide 1/2: Fans would never wish death on someone fighting cancer, a transplant, or heart disease…no matter how much they hold disdain for the opposing team or they have frustration with a player on their own team.
But when it’s mental health? Suddenly it’s “okay” to tell a player to go kill himself?
Slide 2/2: Yes, it would have been ideal for Duran not to have given the finger. I don’t condone the behavior and think he can work on his emotion regulation.
And yes, it would have been better if he had said something like: “My vulnerability/opening up leaves me susceptible to this kind of treatment — and while it’s hard to handle, it underscores how this is still very much an issue for all athletes and all of society. We have so much work to do.”
He would have accomplished the exact same thing — explaining why it’s hard and why he reacted/reacts emotionally — without talking down the very important advocacy he’s done and will continue to do - by saying he shouldn’t have opened up in the first place.
But this all is exactly why we have to change the conversation…because stuff like this is still expected and it’s not surprising that something so horrific is being said to someone struggling w their MH. Most of you realize what those lines, from anyone - fan or otherwise, do to someone who battles ideations.
Mental health is health.
Opening up should never be punished with this type of language. Would love to hear your thoughts about this situation and how far we have to still go 👇.
#MentalHealthIsHealth #JarrenDuran #MentalHealthMatters #AthleteMentalHealth #SameHere🤙
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