Spotlight put on mental health awareness in Valley
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – Mental Health Awareness Month is recognized to make sure people understand services are available.
Everybody's mental health is important. Mental illness can affect anyone, no matter your background or circumstances. Problems are common locally.
'It mirrors the national average, which is about one in four adults in the United States will experience some type of mental health condition,' said Brenda Heidinger, associate director of the Mental Health and Recovery Board.
That could be depression, anxiety, or stress. There are counseling services or physicians and psychiatrists who can help. Check to see who's covered by your health insurance. And if you're not covered, you may qualify for services through the Mental Health & Recovery Board.
'It is really accessible for people if they're looking for it. So sometimes it's just reminding people that it's here, because we don't always think of something until we need it, and then we aren't sure where to find it,' Heidinger said.
Help is available. You can be there better for your family, loved ones, and others by taking care of your mental health. There is a way to turn your struggles into strength.
'We just want people to be able to access care when they need it, where they need it, because we want everyone to be able to live their best life and their most hopeful life,' Heidinger said.
Dial 988 if you feel at a crisis point, and a licensed counselor can help you through it before pointing you to services. Dialing 211 is the best way to find out about mental health services and where to go for them in the community.
A new license plate was unveiled in Ohio to increase awareness of the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
The easy-to-remember, three-digit 988 Lifeline launched nationwide in July 2022 and provides free and confidential support 24/7 to Ohioans experiencing a behavioral health crisis. The digits are displayed on the new license plate.
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I'm particularly interested in the criminal responsibility of offenders with psychiatric disorders. Like many of my colleagues, I've read the work of Michel Foucault — particularly his 1975 book Surveiller et punir: Naissance de la prison (Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison) — which helped shape my thinking around justice, mental illness, and social structures. These reflections played a significant role in my decision to work in the prison system. How are psychiatric services organized at Baumettes? We are a team of seven psychiatrists — some of us, like myself, working part-time. We collaborate with a nursing team of eight for level 1 psychiatric care, and a second team handles level 2 care. Baumettes is a very old facility, originally opened in 1930, and it has housed a regional medico-psychological service since 1980. Today, we provide psychiatric care for more than 1000 inmates. 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They like to say that it's a gender issue because then you can apply hormones in surgery, but that doesn't fix the problem." Heyer credits God for "redeeming and restoring his life," as well as a few Christian counselors who helped him to get sober, address his gender issues, and turn his life around. The Christian authors believe that the modern gender movement is a spiritual battle that should be taken seriously by people of faith. "The gender movement isn't just about erasing male or female. It's actually about erasing the very image of God and family, because family is the first place that we learn safety, security, and there are attributes of male and female that God has uniquely embedded in our DNA, in our design," Bauwens said. "And when you erase those or attempt to erase those, you're erasing an aspect of the very heart and nature of God." 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