Two undergraduate psychology students at Western Michigan University are spending their summer helping to create a youth-driven program that offers community experiences to local teens and opportunities to develop skills from meditation to healthy cooking.

As a medical student, Eric Achtyes really didn’t know what field he should specialize in. But after a six-week rotation in psychiatric medicine, he knew.

Kaitlyn Berry knew helping people would come at a cost. Still, the Western Michigan University grad student didn’t anticipate heading into a mental health counseling career with close to $100,000 in student loan debt hanging over her head.

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.

Trained in the treatment of both physical and mental health needs, PMHNPs serve as a bridge between those worlds.

Demand is high for mental health services across many agencies in Kalamazoo and Calhoun counties, and many peer supporters are ground zero – serving communities that are marginalized, diverse, and in high need.

The demand for mental health providers has always outpaced supply. This has only gotten worse over the past few years. It’s an industry that is increasingly called upon to take care of communities across the country, but it isn’t taking care of its workers.

After a suicide attempt in 2014 and a nearly two-week hospitalization, Packy Earnest needed help in the worst way. What she got instead was another mental health professional she didn’t connect with, who didn’t provide the kind of care Packy felt she needed.

Holistic approaches to mental health and wellness have been catching on in popularity in Western culture, appealing to those who are looking for a different approach to feeling better.

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.

Experts in the field agree that some old methods of treating mental illness belong in the past. But one may be due for revival, a professor at Western Michigan University said.

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.

In 2006, Susan Brown lost a close friend to suicide. Another friend died the same way in 2011. The two incidents left her reeling. Both men were highly accomplished, with plenty of resources at their disposal. If even people in that position could succumb to mental illness, what did that say about the status of mental-health care?

Maybe it’s because of spikes in anxiety and depression during the pandemic. Or maybe it’s the fact so many more people — celebrities and ordinary folks alike — are opening up about their own mental-health struggles.

Call it a silver lining of the pandemic. After generations of being an issue swathed in shame and stigma, mental health is finally getting the attention it deserves. The stigma is easing. Positive changes are happening. State and federal policymakers are allocating hundreds of millions of dollars to expand services and improve access.

We call them heroes. We call them rock stars. But when it comes to meeting the emotional and social needs of educators, have school districts been paying enough attention to teachers.

What can be better than a good friend? A good friend who understands the journey you are on because they have walked it, too. It’s called peer support.

Southwest Michigan is getting an influx of new inpatient psychiatric beds, thanks to two major projects in the works. But those projects still won’t solve the dire shortage of inpatient care, according to local officials and state estimates.

If you are teetering on the edge of a cliff, considering the abyss below, warmline is not for you. You need a hotline. Now. For those in crisis, call 2-1-1 or contact Gryphon Place in Kalamazoo at their crisis hotline, 269.381.HELP. These good people are there for you at all hours, ready to help and prevent the worst. But maybe that’s not you.

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.

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.

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.

Police responding to a domestic dispute between mother and daughter find a distraught teenager who is cutting herself. A disruptive man in a parking lot appears to be experiencing psychotic delusions. A frantic 911 call comes from a woman worried her husband is suicidal or from someone whose family member has overdosed on drugs.

Last month, Kalamazoo Public Safety Officer Aaron Visser was among 42 Kalamazoo-area police who went through a 40-hour training on 911 calls involving people experiencing a mental-health crisis. Two days after finishing the course, Visser put that training to the test.

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.

It’s estimated that about 20% of Michigan adults experience a diagnosable mental-health condition in a given year. Yet more than half will go untreated. A major barrier? Cost, experts say.

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.

Perci, 17, is a double major in philosophy and art history at Western Michigan University. He is one of hundreds of students at the university who have sought mental health care through the Sindecuse Health Center on campus.

“I knew I wanted to study psychology since I was 12. I thought it was neat stuff, and I loved to learn and liked people,” say Mira-Amaya, who is a licensed master social worker (LMSW).

One of the first clinics in the country for mind-and-body family care is opening in Kalamazoo. An explicit goal is to protect against the harm from a healthcare system that makes Black families particularly vulnerable.

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 Carmen Alcaraz moved to Kalamazoo in 2017, she came with hope of a new life filled with fresh opportunities. Instead, she was met with more challenges than she could’ve expected.

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.