Veteran choosing green teal and purple clothing

May & Sept: When to Wear Green, Teal, or Purple for U.S. Veterans

Green is the broadly used color for mental health awareness, while purple and teal are the colors most commonly tied to suicide-prevention campaigns. Beyond these two anchors, a range of condition-specific colors exist, including teal for PTSD and anxiety, periwinkle for eating disorders, and yellow in some suicide-prevention pairings. No single governing body sets these colors, so meaning and shade can shift slightly between organizations.

TL;DR:

  • Green remains the dominant color for mental health awareness, with bright lime for digital visibility and darker shades for formal or memorial contexts.
  • Teal is commonly used for conditions like depression, anxiety, and PTSD, while purple and teal together are typical for suicide prevention campaigns.
  • Colors for specific conditions vary between organizations, so it’s best to verify the sponsoring group’s materials rather than assuming universal associations.
  • Awareness months like May and September are tied to these colors, with official graphics from crisis organizations ensuring consistency and credibility.
  • Supporting the cause is most effective when combined with concrete actions such as sharing resources or engaging directly, beyond just displaying the color.
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Table of Contents

Why green stands for mental health awareness

Advocates adopted green as the color for mental health awareness in the 1990s, choosing it to represent growth, renewal, and hope rather than illness or crisis. That choice stuck, and it now anchors most general mental-health campaigns, including the “Wear it Green” messaging tied to Mental Health Awareness Month.

Shade matters more than people expect. Bright lime green shows up in a lot of campaign graphics because it reads clearly on screens and at a distance, which helps at marches, resource fairs, and social posts. A deeper forest or hunter green sometimes appears in more formal settings, such as printed materials or memorial events, where a softer tone fits the occasion better.

NAMI encourages wearing green specifically to show support for people living with mental illness and to push back against stigma. The approach shows up in community settings too: the VA’s Atlanta health-care system used green during a “Green and Jean Day” resource fair, pairing the color with denim to create a simple, visible way for staff and veterans to signal solidarity.

A few practical patterns worth knowing:

  • Lime or bright green dominates digital graphics, pins, and ribbons meant to catch attention quickly.
  • Darker green often appears in printed event materials, apparel, or memorial contexts where a muted tone feels more appropriate.
  • Many workplaces and campuses now run their own “wear green” days timed to May, following the lead of national organizations.

Condition-specific ribbon colors at a glance

General mental-health awareness has settled on green, but specific conditions carry their own ribbon colors, and these vary more than people assume. Depression, anxiety, and PTSD are frequently represented with teal, a choice that advocacy groups use to distinguish trauma and mood-related conditions from general mental-health messaging. Suicide prevention tends to draw on purple and teal together, though yellow also appears in some campaigns and materials.

A rough mapping, based on how advocacy organizations currently describe these colors:

  • Depression, anxiety, and PTSD: teal, sometimes paired with other colors depending on the campaign.
  • Suicide prevention: purple and teal as a pairing, with yellow used in some materials.
  • Eating disorders: periwinkle or lavender.
  • Bipolar disorder: green paired with silver or yellow in various campaign materials.

San Jose Mental Health’s explainer lays out several of these pairings while noting real variation across advocacy groups. There is no universal regulatory standard forcing one color onto one condition, so two organizations supporting the same cause can use slightly different shades or pairings. When you want to support a specific condition rather than mental health broadly, check the sponsoring organization’s own materials first rather than assuming a color applies universally.

When these colors show up: awareness months and 988 Day

Mental Health Awareness Month runs in May, and green is the unifying color across nearly every campaign tied to it, from “Wear it Green” days to campus events and workplace initiatives. Suicide Prevention Month falls in September, and it leans on purple and teal assets rather than green, reflecting the distinct focus on crisis support.

September 8 marks 988 Day, a date built around the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, a federally established national resource. The 988 Lifeline’s media resources page offers downloadable purple and turquoise ribbon graphics specifically for this purpose, along with logos built for public use.

A few timing and resource notes worth keeping straight:

  • May: Mental Health Awareness Month, green-centered.
  • September: Suicide Prevention Month, purple and teal-centered, with 988 Day on September 8.
  • Official graphics from 988 Lifeline or NAMI carry more credibility than unofficial or recolored versions, since they match what crisis-response organizations actually distribute.

Using official assets rather than improvised graphics matters because it keeps the visual language consistent with what crisis resources already recognize, which helps the message land clearly.

How to wear and share these colors without missing the point

A ribbon or a green shirt means more when it points somewhere. The color itself is a conversation starter, not the entire message, so pairing it with a real action carries more weight than the color alone.

A short sequence for doing this well:

  1. Pick a color that matches the specific cause you want to support, whether that is general awareness (green) or suicide prevention (purple and teal).
  2. Pair the display with a concrete resource, such as a link to 988 or a short note explaining why you are wearing it.
  3. Back the gesture with an action when you can, such as donating, volunteering, or checking in on someone directly rather than letting the color stand alone.
  4. If you are building a graphic, keep contrast high and text legible so the message holds up on a phone screen or across a room.

Pro Tip: If you want to represent more than one cause at once, layer ribbons or stack color blocks rather than blending them into one shade, since a blended color often reads as something else entirely.

A couple of things to avoid: don’t use grief or crisis imagery to sensationalize a cause, and don’t borrow another community’s specific color pairing without acknowledging where it comes from. Our piece on patriotic color combinations walks through how to build accessible, intentional color pairings if you are designing graphics for an event.

Why this guide reflects real community experience

We write from inside the veteran community, where mental-health color symbolism overlaps directly with existing observances. Our coverage of the Thin Green Line explains how veterans already read green through a specific lens tied to service and remembrance, which adds context to events like the VA’s Green and Jean Day.

A few points that shape how we cover this topic:

  • Our R.E.D. Friday explainer covers how veteran communities assign meaning to color in ways that run parallel to mental-health campaigns.
  • Our piece on American veterans and suicide gives direct context for why these colors carry particular weight in military and veteran circles.
  • As the author, I bring a veteran’s perspective to how these symbols get used day to day, not just how campaigns describe them.

What actually matters when you choose a color to wear

The color itself gets more attention than it deserves. A green shirt or a purple ribbon does nothing on its own, and treating the color as the finish line is the most common mistake in how people engage with awareness months. The real value shows up when a color becomes a prompt, a reason to ask someone how they’re doing, a nudge to share the 988 number, or a reminder to actually show up to a resource fair instead of just posting about one.

Veterans talking at a community resource fair

Conventional advice tends to stop at “wear this color in this month,” which is accurate but incomplete. What gets underused is the pairing step: color plus a concrete resource, color plus a specific action. That combination is what separates a gesture that fades by lunchtime from one that actually reaches someone who needs it.

If you take one thing from this guide, prioritize the action over the color. Pick the shade that matches the cause, then decide what you’re going to do with it, whether that’s sharing a crisis line, checking in on a friend, or supporting an organization doing the work year-round.

— Ian

Show support with gear that gives back

If you want a way to carry this message beyond a single month, we build apparel specifically for veterans and the people who stand with them, including pieces built around mental-health themes. Our PTSD classic tee exists as one option for that, built within a collection that connects directly to veteran mental-health advocacy.

PTSD classic tee

A few things worth knowing before you shop:

  • We contribute a percentage of every purchase toward veteran outreach and mental-health programs.
  • The PTSD classic tee works as a year-round way to keep the conversation visible, not just during May or September.
  • Our full collection of apparel and accessories covers more ways to support the same mission if a tee isn’t the right fit.

Wearing a shirt won’t replace a real conversation or a call to 988, but it can open the door to one. If you’re looking for other ways to get involved locally, groups like SOZO Recovery Center run community support programs worth checking out too.

This article is general information, not a substitute for advice from a qualified doctor. Consult a qualified healthcare professional about your own circumstances before acting on anything here.

FAQ

What colors represent mental health?

Green is the primary color for general mental-health awareness, chosen to symbolize growth, renewal, and hope. Specific conditions carry their own colors, such as teal for PTSD, anxiety, and depression, and purple or teal for suicide prevention, according to advocacy explainers.

What are the five C’s of mental health awareness?

The “five C’s” framework isn’t a standardized or universally recognized model in mental-health advocacy. Definitions vary by organization, so it’s worth checking the specific source using that term rather than treating it as a fixed standard.

What color is associated with Mental Health Awareness Month in 2026?

Mental Health Awareness Month, observed every May, uses green as its unifying color, a tradition that has held steady since advocates first adopted it in the 1990s according to San Jose Mental Health. This consistency continues year to year, including in 2026.

What color is the BPD ribbon?

Ribbon colors for borderline personality disorder vary across advocacy groups, and no single color has become the clear standard the way green has for general mental-health awareness. Checking the specific organization running a BPD-focused campaign is the most reliable way to confirm which color it uses.

Sources

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