“Hablar sobre la salud mental y cómo afecta a las personas negras cambia la narrativa de (ser) un tabú a la normalización, de la vergüenza a la aceptación, de la falta de comprensión a una mayor conciencia”, dice Valarie Cunningham. Abrió una clínica de servicios de salud mental sin fines de lucro en 2003 para aumentar esa conciencia.
Recovery Institute of Southwest Michigan, Inc. in Kalamazoo, is run entirely by peers. The nonprofit was established in 2006 on the peer support concept. All but one of the 16 staff members have all traveled the challenging path of recovery with various mental health and/or substance abuse issues and now they help others like themselves.
A new program in Southwest Michigan is combining some tried and true therapies, in a new mix, to help military Veterans find their return to civilian life a bit easier. After a few steps back, a new community garden is almost ready for veterans and volunteers to start planting — and reaping a harvest of help.
In a city the size of Kalamazoo, with 76,000 residents, gun violence has hit record highs with numbers still small enough to feel personal: 13 people were shot to death in 2020 and 2021 respectively, up from four in 2018 and seven in 2019. Assaults with a firearm doubled from 211 in 2018 to 401 in 2021; there were already more than 92 through April this year. Public officials are ringing the alarm to quickly fix a problem decades in the making.
With a very few and specific (and possibly debatable) exceptions, people with mental illness are no more likely to perpetrate violence than the general population. If anything, they are far more likely to be the victims of it. In the rare cases where violent behavior is elevated, the most likely victim is the person themself.
En una ciudad del tamaño de Kalamazoo, con 76.000 habitantes, la violencia con armas de fuego ha alcanzado cifras históricas con números todavía lo suficientemente pequeños como para sentirse como algo personal: 13 personas fueron asesinadas a tiros en 2020 y 2021, respectivamente, frente a cuatro en 2018 y siete en 2019. Los asaltos con arma de fuego se duplicaron, pasando de 211 en 2018 a 401 en 2021; ya hubo más de 92 hasta abril de este año. Los funcionarios públicos están alertando para solucionar rápidamente un problema que lleva décadas gestándose.
Southwest Michigan Journalism Collaborative, in collaboration with The Synergy Health Center and Integrated Services of Kalamazoo, will welcome community members to a Community Conversation.
La idea detrás de Warmline es que se trata de una línea de escucha dirigida por pares para prevenir una crisis, diseñada para ofrecer apoyo y conectar a las personas con los recursos que necesitan.
The idea behind Warmline is that it is a peer-run listening line to prevent a crisis, designed to offer support and to connect people with the resources they need. It is provided by Gryphon Place, ASK Family Services, and Southwest Michigan Behavioral Health.
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 shorter. Thanks to PAWS (Prevention and Wellness Service), a school-linked community adolescent health center, Three Rivers teens and tweens simply have to cross the street.
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