For Malin Akerman, the development of World Mental Health Day was long overdue.
Growing up in Canada in the 1980s, "My brother suffered from severe OCD as a child and watching him go through that, without any resources, was really challenging for the whole family," the actress told E! News in an exclusive interview. "We took courses at children's hospitals on how to deal with it."
The experience led her to study child psychology at Toronto's York University before making the decision to pursue acting full-time. And she became even more invested after welcoming her son Sebastian with ex-husband Roberto Zincone in April 2013.
"One in five children are affected by mental health issues," Akerman explained. "That's a huge number and we need to really look at that. We're in a in a place right now, where more than ever, we need to talk about mental health. Especially with kids, we have to set them up for success."
Helping children discover the tools to best serve their wellbeing is why Akerman partnered with On Our Sleeves, a nonprofit through the Nationwide Children's Hospital which provides resources to parents and advocates.
"The problem is that so many people want to help always and we just don't know how," the 44-year-old explained. "We ourselves come from intergenerational traumas and that are passed down from one generation to the next. Breaking patterns is not easy and we're not always equipped to do that."
Akerman stressed the importance of any provider checking in with themselves first because "you need to be in a good state of mind and taking care of your own mental health to help the younger ones."
For parents, Akerman suggested having "open-ended and curious" conversations with their children and to "really listen" to them.
"Our children have so much more to teach us than we think," she said. "If we drop our roles as authoritarians and let them be our teachers, sometimes we can coexist in such a beautiful way and learn so much from each other."
When it comes to her own mental health, Akerman is a big believe in meditation—even if it's just for five minutes or in the form of a head-clearing walk—to set herself up for success.
"I like to think of putting on my body armor in the beginning of the day knowing that I'm going to go out into the world and lots of things come at you," she shared. "What is it that I need to do to prepare myself mentally to go at my day?"
Exercise is another tool Akerman relies on, explaining, "physical health is a really big part of mental health."
"It's all encompassing," she continued, "I'm trying to find that utopian balance. I don't know if it exists, but we try every day!"
And that's more than enough.