Mental health gets new focus
High Point EnterpriseDec 01, 2019
"We, on a daily basis, deal with some folks who have mental illness issues," said
"Absolutely, she's here every day and she gives us zero problems," McCormick said. "We have several who come here every day."
Those visitors with mental issues may use the computer, get food or participate in other ways and don't cause problems for
"The person who asked me said, 'When I see her coming, I call for security.' Those were her exact words," he said. "It broke my heart. So I'm thinking there are probably other agencies and businesses that don't give these folks a chance. They see them coming and they don't allow them to come in. There are literally 95- to 98-degree days during the summer when these folks don't need to be just shunned away -- in the bitter cold, as well."
While in training for a Ready for School, Ready for Life board, McCormick discussed the issue of mental health disorders with
Mental health issues have been and continue to be an unmet need, said
"So many of the other issues our community is dealing with originate from this issue, and our board of trustees and specifically our grants committee felt it was time to make this investment," Lessard said.
"Basically, the concept isn't that we're planning on fixing everybody," McCormick said. "The plan is to train 12 to 15 other organizations and businesses as to how to deal with those who may be dealing with mental health issues as well as provide resources."
Over the past few years,
"Basically, we fully developed relationships with them, communicated with them, talked to them and realized that there would be days where there would be breakdowns," McCormick said. "We wouldn't hold those breakdowns against them. We would communicate and learn to know them more and learn triggers that would bring on breakdowns if they weren't already dealing with certain issues. We looked around the community to try to find agencies that could help us. We still haven't recognized anywhere that focused specifically on how to deal with this population."
About five years ago, a homeless woman would spend the bulk of her day at
"We did everything we could to get her in a shelter, but she wanted no part of being in a shelter," McCormick said. "She wanted to be outdoors, and we knew something couldn't be right with that. We've dealt with quite a few people like this, who just have some issues that need attention. We just started recognizing that it was a citywide or a countrywide thing once folks start to talking about it."
"Our work with Say Yes Guilford has involved asking our principals what their most urgent needs are, and No. 1 on the list was mental health issues, and this is why our student support services are focusing on this issue," Lessard said. "Mental health issues are often less visible and harder to detect. It just reminds us to take time and reach out to people as we never know what challenges people are dealing with."
"We're literally in the process right now of identifying businesses and nonprofits who can benefit from it that we're going to invite to be here," McCormick said. "We're trying to choose the best dates that will work to get the maximum amount of people to actually attend. It's a really big need in the community. We're not the only ones who deal with this population. We recognized there was a need and our goal is to see what we can do to combat the problem."
cingram@hpenews.com -- 336-888-3534 -- @HPEcinde
More mental health resources:
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--Outpatient therapy services with licensed therapists and clinicians on call provide counseling for anyone suffering from mild to moderate mental illness.
--Court services program provides mental health screening and treatment for people in the justice system.
--If you or someone you know may benefit from services at
RHA focuses on people with intellectual or developmental disabilities, mental health and substance abuse.
--Walk-in crisis center is available on
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Hotlines
If you or someone you know may be having suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255, or text CONNECT to 741741 for any kind of crisis assistance.
If you are having a medical emergency, call 911.
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