“Mental health is real,” is chanted by several people, ringing out across the Columbus-Lowndes Soccer Complex.
The line of people file down the sidewalk, still chanting, holding signs and balloons.
Many are dressed in green, symbolic of the reason they have all gathered together.
May is Mental Health Awareness month, and Columbus is hosting its inaugural Mental Health Awareness Walk.
“Any activity or event that promotes the idea that mental health is important, is something that we do and need to do more of,” Community Counseling Services Executive Director Rayfield Evins Jr said. “Not just for those who are already in services, but also for general knowledge for the entire community.”
The event was hosted by the Community Action Coalition. The coalition is comprised of Community Counseling, Alliance Health Center, the City of Columbus, and many other mental health service providers, nonprofits, community organizations and institutions.
It was formed with the goal of raising mental health awareness within the community as well as breaking the stigma surrounding these services.
“There are so many people that do not understand mental health and the severity of it and don’t relate to it,” said Kyle Platt with Alliance Health Center. “The reality is, more people in our population, almost 62 %, actually suffer from mental illness requiring treatment services that don’t even seek those services. This is a big aspect of why our communities never fully heal and the problems continue to get more and more severe. One of the things that we are trying to do is, as providers, instead of just waiting for times of crisis to respond, we are trying to take messages of awareness and prevention into the community.”
That is where the walk came into play.
Raising awareness involves bringing the community together, and this seemed like a good way to do that.
“Across the nation, there are mental health walks being done in different places at different times,” County Administrator for Community Counseling Veronica Harrison said. “We have not had one in this area, so this is our first attempt at putting this on. The idea is that we bring awareness to the need for mental health services and bring awareness to the fact that individuals need support, families need support, that mental health is not just a one person problem and that the stigma attached to it is horrible. Mental health encompasses so many things and everyone has mental health.”
She said that people often view mental health as something to be ashamed of and do not seek help or give health.
“What we are trying to do is get people talking and understanding that mental health services are just like going to the doctor or the dentist, it’s taking care of a need,” Harrison said. “Normally, when you hear somebody’s child has cancer or diabetes, everybody rallies around and tries to see how they can assist. When you hear somebody’s child is diagnosed with Bipolar II, people kind of shy away, back up. If it’s substance use disorders, we blame the individual, we blame the family. There’s a lot of blame handed out and very little support, concern and care. If it’s suicide that a family is dealing with, or an attempted suicide, that can bring a lot of stigma and a lot of negativity to the family.”
Harrison said she believes addressing mental health in the community can help alleviate other negative aspects in the community such as crime.
“We are trying to grow our community so we can benefit our community,” Harrison said. “It is my belief that mental health services can change so many of the ills we are facing, especially in our county. Our jail and our (juvenile detention center), are full of individuals who have mental health needs. But the Sheriff’s Office is having to house them when what they really need is somebody to meet their mental health needs and find their way. Be that with medication, therapy, whatever.”
Platt said this is the first event, but the coalition plans to host a different event each quarter, addressing different aspects of mental health.
The coalition meets regularly to decide what needs to be addressed.
“We meet once a month to discuss the trends and what’s happening within our community,” Platt said.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 46 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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