After seeing people struggle every day to pay their bills and take care of their health, owner of MSE Behavioral & Mental Health Services Yvonne Robinson said most people have no idea where to find help.
“I started to notice that some of my patients were struggling keeping their lights on, paying utilities, paying their bills. … Some were being evicted, some were homeless, some couldn’t afford medication and some of them didn’t have insurance,” Robinson said. “We don’t have a lot of community engagement … for people to know where resources actually are.”
So Robinson decided to bring resources into the community this weekend for the inaugural Mental Health & Community Resource Fair, hosted by MSE and The Harris Initiative.
The event will run from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday in the Columbus High School gym. More than 40 vendors offering free vision and hearing screenings, financial assistance and information about local counseling, clinic and other health services will be available to attendees.
“There are a lot of parents of children that go to the school that are … having housing issues or financial issues, mental health issues or just having basic family issues when it comes to therapy and transportation needs, so it was just important for me to be in the heart of the community, and that’s the school district,” Robinson said.
Dante Harris, founder of The Harris Initiative, said he hopes the event will bridge the gap between community members and the resources available to them.
“I have seen a lot of people feel uncomfortable to reach out to these resources and gain help from them,” Harris said. “Our thing is just trying to let people know that you don’t need to feel uncomfortable. You don’t have to be shy. You don’t have to be ashamed. If you need help, the help here is available. You just have to show up.”
Harris said while the event initially focused on mental health services, organizers chose to broaden the scope to include services for anyone in need.
“We know there’s a lot of people out there that not only struggle with mental health but other aspects in life,” Harris said. “We wanted to bring solutions out to one venue and just be a solution to everybody.”
All ages are welcome. Games, food trucks and free hotdogs will also be on site for attendees to enjoy.
Robinson said she hopes to see at least 200 people from the whole region come through the fair.
“It’s not just localized for Lowndes County,” she said. “It is the whole Golden Triangle area – Starkville, Noxubee, Hamilton, Caledonia – we want everybody to come out and utilize these services. … I want this to be a yearly thing and hopefully we can make it bigger and bigger each year.”
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You can help your community
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 35 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
