The pandemic has increased the already large need for mental health services. The system hasn’t kept up, putting more pressure on those on the frontlines.
Mental Wellness Project
We call them heroes. We call them rock stars. But when it comes to meeting the emotional and social needs of educators, have school districts been paying enough attention to teachers?
The Affinity House in Centreville is part of a national network of clubhouses offering community support. Research shows the programs are a cost-effective way to reduce incarceration, homelessness and psychiatric hospitalization among people with severe mental illness, and also improves employment rates, social connections, and well-being among participants.
Recovery Institute of Southwest Michigan, Inc., at 1020 South Westnedge in Kalamazoo, is run entirely by peers. The nonprofit was established in 2006 on the peer support concept. The 16 staff members, with the exception of the executive director Shawn Harris, have all traveled the challenging path of recovery with various mental health and/or substance abuse issues.
A new program in Paw Paw is combining some tried and true therapies, in a new mix, to help military Veterans find their return to civilian life a bit easier.
You may be feeling sad, or lonely, or overwhelmed, or just confused about what to do next. You aren’t standing on the edge of a cliff, but you could really use someone to talk to. For you, a new initiative in Southwest Michigan, called the Warmline, was established in October 2021 by three local nonprofits: Gryphon Place, ASK Family Services, and Southwest Michigan Behavioral Health.
In order to better understand the local impact, the support systems that are available, and the gaps in the system in the greater Kalamazoo community, the Southwest Michigan Journalism Collaborative’s Mental Wellness Project held a forum with experts in the field.
A decade ago, two enemies in Kalamazoo put down their guns. Following two straight years of record gun violence in the city, their intervention program remains especially vigilant in helping others decide to disarm – or not pick up a gun in the first place.
Southwest Michigan Journalism Collaborative, in collaboration with The Synergy Health Center and Integrated Services of Kalamazoo, will welcome community members to a Community Conversation: Navigating COVID – What’s Your New Normal? to take place at El Concilio, 930 Lake Street, in Kalamazoo on Tuesday, June 28, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Three Calhoun County entities work together to keep those needing mental health services out of jail
Claire Metzgar knows that taking a deep dive into the lives of individuals she connects with at Calhoun County’s Public Defenders Office will not keep them from being incarcerated for the criminal activity that brought them to her. Instead, her main focus as the office’s Social Work Coordinator is to keep those she works with from having any further interactions with the criminal justice system after they have served their time and are released.
If you’re a middle school or high school aged student in Three Rivers, the distance between where you attend school and a place that provides mental health services has never been closer.
In an effort to enhance the news landscape and promote diversity and inclusion of voices among journalists and news sources in Southwest Michigan, a group of 12 news media outlets and organizations have formed the Southwest Michigan Journalism Collaborative (SWJMC).
This story was originally published by MLive and is part of the Mental Wellness Project, a solutions-oriented journalism initiative covering mental health issues in southwest Michigan, created by the Southwest Michigan Journalism Collaborative. SWMJC is a group of 13 regional organizations (including Watershed Voice) dedicated to strengthening local journalism. For more info, visit swmichjournalism.com.