Mind Matters - August

Volume 11 | August 2019

Mind Matters

A monthly update from Northland Healthy Minds.

Northland Healthy Minds, with support from the St. Louis County Family Services Collaborative, will be offering free Youth Mental Health First Aid classes this fall.

Aug. 24, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Damiano Center in Duluth. Register here.
Sept. 12, noon to 4:30 p.m. and Sept. 13, 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the St. Louis County Public Safety Building. Register here.

Youth Mental Health First Aid teaches you how to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illnesses and substance use disorders.

Employer highlight: Goodwill Industries

Goodwill Industries partnered with Northland Healthy Minds this year to implement the Make It OK employer toolkit during Mental Health Awareness Month.

Goodwill employs 330 people in Northeastern Minnesota and Northwestern Wisconsin. Of those, 147 are client employees with a physical disability, cognitive disability or mental health diagnosis receiving vocational rehab training.

"We provide a supportive atmosphere," said Doug Robertson, case manager at Goodwill. "A safe place where mental health can be discussed without any stigma. Our program participants know they can take care of their mental health needs without losing their jobs. Knowing they won’t be fired if they need to call in because of deep depression."

Goodwill invited a volunteer from Northland Healthy Minds to give a Make It OK presentation during May.

"In the Make It OK presentation, there is the slide that asks how many of you know someone who has had a mental illness," Robertson said. "Everyone in the room raises their hand. That is a moment that everyone realizes it’s normal ... it’s OK. It starts a conversation that doesn’t stop when the presentation is over. Our employees thanked us for talking about this subject."

Thanks to Doug and Goodwill for sharing their story!

We will be releasing an updated toolkit for employers in May 2020. In the meantime, if your employer would like to work on mental health:

Host a Mental Health First Aid class for your employees. Contact Jenna to get connected to a trainer.
If your organization works with youth, register yourself or your employees for a free Youth Mental Health First Aid class.

We need you!

As part of our outreach and education, Northland Healthy Minds tables at events to build awareness of our organization and get ideas and input from people outside of our coalition.

We have two upcoming tabling opportunities, split into 3-4 hour shifts:

Bayfront Pride Festival, Aug. 31 at Bayfront Festival Park
11 a.m. - 3 p.m.
3 - 7 p.m.
Harvest Festival: Sept. 7 at Bayfront Festival Park
10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
1 - 4 p.m.

We will provide all of the materials, a t-shirt and talking points. We cannot commit to events without volunteers, so please reply to this email if you can help at any of the shifts listed!

Upcoming Events:

For more events check our Events Calendar and submit your upcoming event!

Minutes from our July meeting

Northland Healthy Minds envisions a world where anyone can get the support and assistance they deserve for their mental illness without fear of discrimination, marginalization, and criminalization due to stigma.

This monthly newsletter provides updates about news and events in our area supporting our vision and mission.