When people are encouraged to talk about their mental health, who is there to listen?
WHAT DOES MIND-AID MUSKOKA DO?
Mind-Aid Muskoka launched in September 2020 as a client-based, mobile service aimed at helping people navigate the mental health system.
The system navigators, Jody North and Desarae Doolittle, connect with clients and help determine their needs. From there, they direct them to the right resources in the community and check in on them throughout the process.
They also help clients access financial support if that is something holding them back from seeking help.
Both North and Doolittle recently received training in mental health first aid and safeTALK suicide prevention and hope to share their knowledge with the community.
The service has also partnered with Gravenhurst Against Poverty and is building a volunteer ally team to work with youth when the young adult centre is opened.
WHO CAN ACCESS THE SERVICE?
Mind-Aid Muskoka serves clients across Muskoka. While it is targeted at people 30 and under and their parents/guardians, those who are outside this age bracket will not be turned away.
In the first year, “we helped 261 young people and their parents and guardians, and that meant making referrals to over 50 different service providers and resources … it’s something like 2,700 individual interactions with those clients and service providers to get those connections made and get people into service,” said North.
HOW IS THIS SERVICE UNIQUE?
Anxiety is a mixture of fear, nervousness and apprehension. levitra online http://www.icks.org/data/ijks/1482456353_add_file_3.pdf Most conductive impairments can lowest price sildenafil be treated medically and improved upon. It buy cheap cialis icks.org magically works to raise sex stimulation to increase erection. They are requested to go through the website thoroughly and check accreditations of the pharmacy. http://icks.org/n/data/ijks/1482467285_ij_file.pdf generic levitraMind-Aid Muskoka is unique in its open, flexible approach, said Doolittle.
“People get to go and try out a service, try a counsellor, try a system and then they get to come back and say OK, this part of it I liked, this I didn’t, can we go further? And they get to do that multiple times, which is really remarkable,” she said. “A lot of mental health care is just the person being seen and heard.”
It is important to build relationships so each client feels comfortable coming back for help, North added.
“That’s the type of service I seek when I’m scared or when I’m needing support, is a service that feels like a trusting relationship,” she said. “I think instead of trying to fit the person to the care, we’re fitting the care to the person.”
It is also essential to help people recognize that mental health care is just as important, and intrinsically connected, to physical health, North explained.
“I think we need to accept that same relationship with mental health, that it’s ongoing, that there’s going to be periods in your life where you’re going to need some support and periods where it’s smooth sailing, just like our physical health,” she said.
HOW CAN PEOPLE SUPPORT THE SERVICE?
While the service has received much support from the community, North and Doolittle are looking for a partner that can help them secure long-term funding.
“It’s not challenging to think of ways to help in the community,” said North. “It’s not challenging to find people to help. It’s not even challenging to find more people for our team … The challenge comes with keeping ongoing funding. We have no guaranteed funding, so we will stop helping when the money runs out.”
Sarah Law, Gravenhurst Banner, Friday, December 3, 2021