The Mental Wellness Project Archive

Not long after Nancy Rubio’s family moved to Kalamazoo, tragedy struck. Her husband was killed in a car crash. Her young son Diego was struggling to cope, so his elementary school connected the family to El Concilio, a local organization that supports the Latinx community, for counseling in his primary language: Spanish.
Their personal trauma with gun violence equips local intervention workers to fight on the front lines against it. But at what cost to their own mental health? How a shift in the traditional approach to therapy supports a group that’s usually reluctant to do it.
When social worker Jim Henry met the 7-year-old, she was living with an aunt after her mother had died. The girl was struggling in school. Wasn’t sleeping. Had emotional issues.
COVID-19 increased mental health issues for many Americans. Now that the restrictions on daily life have largely lifted, the aftermath of months in isolation is still playing out in many people’s lives. Aside from problems brought on by the pandemic, mental illness is a reality for almost one in five people in the U.S., according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
When Jeffrey Tavarez and Agustin Leal-Diaz heard yet another story of suicide among college youth, they knew they had to do something to help — and they had to do it loudly, with the sound of thunder. The two recent graduates of Western Michigan University also wanted an effort specifically targeted for Spanish-speaking young adults, like themselves.
A sudden lack of baby formula can be another mental health stressor for parents at a time of intense pressure. Formula can be a nutritional life saver, but its prominence has come at the expense of unrivaled mother nature’s milk.
By many accounts, the negative societal stigma associated with mental health problems — seeking counseling in particular — is as low as it’s ever been. Experts point to the pandemic’s effect on the rise in telehealth and how that has helped ease many people skittish about receiving help into therapy or how social media has helped raise awareness of mental health problems and provided a space for people to interact with others who are struggling with the same issues.
Local leaders who work with young people say a generational mental health crisis is looming but not inevitable. To avoid a crisis requires more adequate funding for services – not a new need by any means. The leaders also expressed a need less well-known outside of social service circles: Youth know what they need, and they know what works for them, so providers need to listen more and direct less.
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.
Talk therapy can be a highly effective way to treat mental-health issues, helping people to control or eliminate symptoms or behaviors that undermine a person’s well-being. Psychotherapy can help people process trauma or loss, teach coping skills to address depression and/or anxiety, address issues such as eating or substance-abuse disorders or obsessive-compulsive disorder, and help heal broken relationships.
Feeling depressed? Anxious? Stressed out? Join the club. More than one-third of Michiganders reported experiencing symptoms of depression, stress and or anxiety in the previous two weeks, based on a federal Census survey taken in March.
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.
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.
Perhaps no surprise, cost is the No. 1 barrier to obtaining mental-health care, according to a 2018 federal survey of 5,000 Americans. But instead of giving up, it’s important to explore your options — and there are a surprising number for people worried about the cost of mental-health services.
When Paulo realized a troubled friend was at risk of suicide, he knew what to do. A few years before, Paulo had participated in a suicide-prevention program at Kalamazoo Central High School. He learned the red flags. He also learned the importance of asking someone if they were having suicidal thoughts.
A college student that works part time, a working parent with a young child, and one adult juggling several jobs: What do they all have in common? Each is maintaining a balancing act just to get through the day. Finding a healthy balance in our responsibilities like work, parenting, and education, is important in maintaining a good mental and physical health, according to Grand Canyon University.
When Joy Morris-Burton and Aerick Burton first crossed paths on a walk near their respective homes in Kalamazoo’s Vine neighborhood years ago, there was an instant connection that poets write about and painters portray with pastels.
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