The past year has been a year full of celebrations as we marked 70 years of Wyandot Behavioral Health Network. We have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to celebrate with our staff, our community partners and soon we hope to celebrate with many of our friends and supporters at our upcoming Game Changer Gala as our 70th anniversary year draws to a close.
When I started peer support almost 3 years ago, I learned how important it was to define recovery for myself. My working definition of recovery is: Recovery is celebrating the wins during the ups and keeping hope and an understanding that progress is never linear during the downs and choosing to stay. Recovery is looking backward at progress and forward at the goal. Recovery is both being able to stand on my own two feet and still being able to ask for help when needed. Recovery is thriving and not just surviving.
Years ago, when one of our case managers was asked by a community member about what they do, they responded “we create hope.” Those three words have stuck with me all these years. September is National Recovery Month and for individuals who are struggling with mental health and addiction challenges, hope is vital. And this year’s theme is “Hope is Real. Recovery is Real.”
There is a lot of responsibility that comes with being a community mental health center. It requires us to stay connected to the community to ensure we are meeting the current needs. And it also means providing quality, accessible care close to home. And while I might be a bit biased, I think our staff at Wyandot BHN embody what it really means to be a community mental health center. And I was thankful for the opportunity earlier this month to celebrate everything they’ve accomplished over the past year.
When an individual is experiencing a mental health crisis, being able to provide crisis intervention services in the community is key. Wyandot BHN is currently working to expand its mobile crisis response program and recent grant funding from the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS) will allow us to move toward expansion to a 24/7 mobile crisis response model.
When a person is discharged from a hospital, the idea is to transition their care from the hospital back into the community. This idea holds true for mental and behavioral health treatment. But what happens if the person being discharged does not have a permanent home or address? What happens to them? And how does that affect their recovery?
After four years of addressing individual and community trauma, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and helping to promote resiliency in Wyandotte County, Alive & Thrive is saying goodbye – for now. At this time, funding for Alive & Thrive cannot be sustained.
Wyandot Behavioral Health Network (BHN) is pleased to announce that Michael Oher will headline Wyandot BHN’s inaugural Game Changer Gala on Tuesday, November 14, at Children’s Mercy Park.
Last month, we had the unique opportunity to celebrate the recovery journeys of dozens of Wyandot BHN clients, staff and community members at the stART the conversation art exhibition. It’s not every day that we get a chance to see, hear and celebrate stories of recovery from our friends and neighbors. But that is what makes stART the conversation such a special event. It brings together Kansas Citians with varying levels of experience with art without any sort of “acceptance process.” The exhibition is about providing a platform for anyone who has a message to share about mental health. And the messages that were shared this year were powerful and started important conversations about mental health and recovery.
Mental Health Month is a time to educate ourselves about the realities of mental health. And I was encouraged to see nearly 700 Kansas Citians doing just that at the Mental Health KC Conference earlier this month. While the conference primarily attracts mental health professionals, it is also starting to reach more corporate and business community members, as well as parents and others in the community who just want to deepen their understanding of mental health.
The COVID-19 National Emergency has now come to an end. And while that doesn’t mean that we’re living in a “post-COVID” world, I think many of us would agree that we can finally breathe a collective sigh of relief. But if you ask me, there has been a silver lining to come from the pandemic. It helped us normalize mental health and the need for support.
