Day 1 at the 2023 Mental Health America Conference: Next Gen Prevention

MHA Admin

Thu, 06/08/2023 – 16:45

The opening day of the 2023 Mental Health America Conference, Next Gen Prevention, kicked off with nearly 600 people in Washington, D.C., and over 10,000 virtual attendees tuning in from across the country and globe.

Jennifer Bright, MHA Board Chair, welcomed Aaron D. Sam, a traditional counselor/healer and medicine man at Tséhootsooí Medical Center, to the main stage. Sam sang a traditional Navajo Nation song about coexistence and presented MHA President and CEO Schroeder Stribling with a gift.

“At Mental Health America, we exist to promote mental health and well-being, prevent mental illness and crisis, and advocate for all those in need,” Stribling said. “This year, we are expanding and deepening our longstanding commitment to mental health and well-being in keeping with our strategic plan, Next Gen Prevention.” Learn more about the basis of this year’s conference theme and Mental Health America’s new strategic plan focusing on Next Gen Prevention.

Vivek H. Murthy, U.S. Surgeon General, addressed via video the youth mental health crisis. “[Youth] stories and the data that we’ve been gathering made it clear that depression, suicide, anxiety, and loneliness have been profound challenges for our kids, and they are stealing the future of our children.” He also thanked Mental Health America and the conference attendees for their work in mental health spaces.

Carmela Wallace, philanthropist, entrepreneur, and the mother of Juice WRLD (also known as Jarad Higgins), had a conversation with Mahmoud Khedr, a former MHA Youth Mental Health Leadership Council member and new MHA Board member. Wallace, upon Juice WRLD’s passing, established Live Free 999 to help those who suffer in silence and normalize the conversation about mental health and addiction. She spoke about how she tried to get her son to open up and talk about his anxiety.

“We found an African American male [therapist] that he could talk to, and that was key,” Wallace said. “He needed to feel comfortable. It’s different when [youth] have someone they feel comfortable with.” She told other parents to “listen to your children, take the judgment off, and let them know you’re there for them.”

MHA’s 2023 Clifford W. Beers Award was presented to Antoine B. Craigwell. The award, MHA’s highest honor, was created in 1976 and is presented annually to a consumer of mental health and/or substance abuse services who best reflects the example set by Beers in his efforts to improve conditions for, and attitudes toward, people with mental illnesses. Craigwell produced the documentary “You Are Not Alone”; founded DBGM, Inc., a non-profit organization committed to raising awareness of the underlying factors contributing to depression and suicidal ideation in Black gay men; and provides training in LGBTQ+ peoples of color cultural competency, mental health, and HIV.

“When I attempted suicide in 1999, I did not know of anywhere I could turn,” Craigwell said. “In our society there is a sense of things we should not talk about.” He went on to say, “Community members, it is important that, just as much as we can talk about having a stomach ache, a headache, our ankles are hurting, let’s easily talk about our mental health.”

Breakout sessions led by experts, advocates, and individuals from across the country covered a range of topics, such as the youth mental health implications of the climate crisis, 988, state courts’ response to mental illness, and the role of technology in preventative mental Health care.

DID YOU KNOW?

The Capital City Emergency “Level II” Trauma & Wellness Center will house a “state of the art” Outreach Community Resource Center, that will provide case management, mental health community advocacy, and oversight from the M.I. Mother’s Keeper mental health advocates. 
 
The Capital City Emergency “Level II” Trauma & Wellness Center will offer patrons access to immediate coverage by general surgeons as well as coverage by the specialties of orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, anesthesiology, emergency medicine, radiology and critical care.
 
Our goal is to help people in the best way possible in an effort to preserve and to save more lives in the Nation’s Capital and beyond.

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Emergency

Code Red
Gunshot Victim
Life Threatening Wounds
Physical Assault Victim
Severely Injured Auto Accident Victim
Burn Victim
Epilepsy/Seizures
Cardiovascular
Choking & Breathing Obstructions
and more…

trauma

Child Sex Assault Victim
Domestic Violence Victim
Drug Overdose
Rape/Sex Crime Victim
Suicide Watch
Trafficking Victim
Nervous Breakdown
and more…

Mental Health

At Capital City Emergency Trauma & Wellness Center patrons with mental health emergencies that include life threatening situations in which an individual is imminently threatening harm to self or others, severely disoriented or out of touch with reality, has a severe inability to function or is otherwise distraught and out of control, will have access to quality and psychiatric emergency services and referrals.

Physical Health

Whether your life threatening medical emergency involves excessive or uncontrollable bleeding, head injury. difficulty with breathing, severe pain, heart attack, vision impairments, stroke, physically collapsing, or seizure related, rest assured that our professionals will properly assess and evaluate the level of response that will be most needed to help provide stabilized care solutions and minimize complications as well as reduce early mortality.

Holistic Healthcare

We offer healthcare solutions that will support the whole person which includes their physical, psychological, emotional, social, & spiritual wellbeing. Research supports that because your mental state can affect your overall health we support and offer the inclusion of complimentary and alternative medicine(CAM) practitioners and naturopathic doctor recommendations and referrals as a part of our Outreach Community Resource Center’s care regimen and support.

Rehabilitative

Emergency care can typically result in traumatic injuries for which rehabilitation becomes an essential component of care in trying to achieve the best long-term outcomes for the patient. In addition to speeding up recovery times and helping to prevent further complications, rehabilitative care also helps to support a patient’s self-managed recovery once discharged from our facility. Our Outreach Community Resource Center works closely with our trauma center’s discharge department to assure that patrons requiring these services are linked with qualified professionals who will be accountable to the standard of care required to help the patron be successful in their recovery.

Social Services

Our “state of the art” Outreach Community Resource Center intends to promote “expansive” beneficial community enriching services, programs, case management, & linkage to “approved” partner resources and supports in all of the following intended areas and more:

Social Services

  • Clothing
  • Food Pantry
  • Housing/Shelter
  • I.D. Credentials
  • Senior Wellness Check
  • Toiletries
  • Transportation
  • Etc.

Extended Family Services

  • Child Care
  • Credit Counseling
  • Family Court Services
  • Legal Aide

Career Training

  • Apprenticeship programs
  • Computer/Graphics Training
  • Culinary Program  
  • GED Courses
  • Hospitality Training
  • Job Etiquette & Grooming
  • Resume’ Prep
  • Sales Training
  • Software/Technology workshops
  • Small Business Training

Return Citizen
Program Partner
(Bridging the Gap)

  • Case Management
  • Temporary Boarding/Housing
  • Transitional Program Registration

Prevention/Intervention Outreach,
Workshops, & Programs

  • After-school Behavioral Health Program
  • Civic Engagement / Volunteer Sign-up
  • Fatherhood Rites of Passage
  • Gun Violence Town Hall Forum
  • Life Coaching & Coping Strategies
  • Marriage Counseling Workshops
  • Medicare Informational Workshops
  • Mentorship Training
  • Parental Classes
  • Support Groups
  • Town Hall Discussions
  • Violence De-Escalation Training
  • Voter Registration

Nutritional Outreach

  • Cooking Demonstrations
  • Dietary Programs
  • Exercise Classes
  • Recipe Sharing Workshops
  • Meal Prep

Community Outreach

The Healthy DC & Me Leadership Coalition is partnering with the M.I. Mother’s Keeper Mental Health advocacy organization to provide outreach services on the community level as an aid in reducing the existent health inequities that many District citizens are facing as a direct result of the presence of debilitating social determinants and the lack of culturally appropriate care choices and realities for community members residing in marginalized and lower-income communities.

It is the vision and intentions of the M.I. Mother’s Keeper Mental Health Advocates organization to help improve the quality of living for citizens living in our Nation’s Capital and beyond by overseeing the delicate linkage to services and by maintaining higher standards of care accountability for deserving citizens of the Nation’s Capital.

For more information or to enroll as one of our service providers, please email us at:
info@healthydcandme.org