The Holmes County Commissioners met with a pair of local leaders in the mental health community recently to present a proclamation honoring May as Mental Health Month.
Joining the commissioners were Nicole Williams, executive director of Mental Health & Recovery Board of Wayne and Holmes Counties, and Mark Woods, executive director at Anazao Community Partners, who shared their thoughts and their vision concerning the state of mental health in today’s world.
“May is Mental Health Month, but every day we need to be aware of mental health,” Williams said, noting 1-in-5 Americans suffer from some type of mental health ailment on some level.
She encouraged anyone suffering from any type of mental health disorder to reach out and seek help, noting the stigma shouldn’t discourage anyone from seeking to improve their life.
She said there are a variety of mental health organizations throughout Wayne and Holmes counties, with multiple services many people aren’t aware exist.
“We’re doing some good things and great work, but there can always be more,” Williams said.
Woods reiterated Williams’ message and said area providers create a tremendous blanket of opportunity for those seeking help.
“The system of care available is as robust as it is anywhere,” Woods said. “I don’t know that the folks who live around here realize that.”
He said for those recognizing they need help overcoming a mental health disorder, they can receive help that very same day at a variety of partners.
“There’s nary a need that we can’t address immediately,” Woods said. “That’s pretty significant for a relatively small community like Holmes County that gets earmarked as rural.”
Commissioner Eric Strouse said they appreciate the effort of all the staffs working in the mental health field and added working in two counties like most of the organizations do must carry with it plenty of challenges.
Williams said there are five partner agencies in the two-county area including the Mental Health & Recovery Board, Anazao, Catholic Charities, National Alliance on Mental Health and OneEighty that work hand-in-hand in addressing mental health issues.
Commissioner Dave Hall said while this proclamation focuses on May, this fight is a year-round effort to increase awareness and reach those struggling with mental health issues.
“The challenges are out there,” Hall said. “No family doesn’t have some sort of challenge some time in their life, and having good, quality services and awareness is critical.”
He said having the team effort of so many qualified agencies is comforting and inspiring.
Williams said her organization is currently seeking an additional board member from Holmes County, and anyone who has an interest should contact her for further information.
She also said aside from the important goal of helping people work through their mental health issues, each organization works hard to spend tax dollars wisely because they recognize the importance of community support.
Williams said the development of recognizing mental health issues continues to grow as the stigma and fear of admitting to having mental health struggles lessens.
She said many people still try to hide their struggles, and oftentimes people are so busy with life they push their struggles to the background as they deal with everyday life. She said doing so only creates more struggles.
Woods said both demand and severity continue to increase in reporting mental health issues, but the funding hasn’t increased, which adds challenges to providing services.
“We’ve got to find ways to get more creative and focus on finding ways to eliminate waste in the system,” Woods said. “We need to really focus on core services, and Nicole and her team are doing a great job in leading some of those initiatives to make sure those dollars are going directly to treatment services for citizens.”
With everything from depression and schizophrenia to addictions, the swathe of mental health disorders remains a difficult task for Americans, many of whom continue to function in society despite struggling to deal with their issues.
He said the goal of each of these entities is not to create scenarios where people continue to come back day after day, month after month, but to create healing connections that allow people to receive treatment and guidance and then move back into a regular routine in life where they learn to overcome their mental health issues.
“Our hope is ‘get you well, get you out,’” Woods said.
“The campaign this year is ‘End the Stigma,’ and we’ve seen a movement where it’s almost trending toward seeking help is almost a cool thing to do,” Williams said.
Woods said in rural areas the stigma remains a little more strong, where people tend not to share their struggles and keep things inside.
Anyone struggling with mental health issues is encouraged to reach out to one of these local organizations to start a path to recovery.
