“The stressors of life have had a devastating impact on farmers and farm families,” Philips said. “In rural communities, we’re seeing higher rates of depression, anxiety and suicide. It’s a disturbing trend.”
The Pink Cloud Foundation is a Twin Cities-based nonprofit that pays sober deposits for people facing financial hardship.
COVID Cares Support Service is a statewide phone line offering free, anonymous support for people experiencing stress and anxiety; it’s staffed by a volunteer team of licensed mental health professionals.
The coronavirus altered their plans. The group decided to produce a series of videos demonstrating the key tools that they teach. They called the series, which they posted on YouTube, “Finding the Pause.”
Face It, founded in 2009, was built on the idea that the support of other men is key to helping men understand and recover from depression and reduce the rate of male suicide.
In a Q&A, Hoyt talks about how societal stressors can take a toll on children’s safety, how a lack of in-person connection reduces child-welfare reports and the role that concerned adults can play in children’s lives.
Fidgety Fairy Tales, a traveling children’s acting troupe sponsored by the Minnesota Association for Children’s Mental Health, performs well-loved stories with a mental health twist.
A crisis line for adults in mental health distress, Hennepin County’s Community Outreach for Psychiatric Emergencies has been forced to shift to phone-only services due to coronavirus, assessing callers’ mental states in new and different ways.
While the majority of members had cellphones, many didn’t realize that their phones had cameras. And others didn’t have a computer or a laptop at home. This meant that many needed a crash course in online communication.
At Washburn, COVID-19 meant changing the way they’d been doing things for over a century in a matter of days.
While the Training Institute’s classes are usually designed to provide continuing education credits for mental health professionals, this course was created with laypeople in mind.
Because loss upends the lives of those left behind, Carolyn Kinzel explained it is her organization’s goal to help grieving families build connections that can make navigating their new reality a little easier.
For now, some patients have been moved or discharged as COVID-19 patients are served. But M Health Fairview says no permanent changes have been made.
Social isolation — even when done for the good of the larger community — can be particularly difficult for LGBTQ+ people in recovery.
In mid-March, as the number COVID-19 cases in the state began to climb, SRHN leadership announced that staff would work from home and naloxone trainings would be shifted from in-person to virtual.
Statewide restrictions placed on the number of people who can gather together have meant that Minnesota’s many recovery programs have had to rethink the way they work.
Psychiatrist and educator Kaz Nelson discusses four common mental health reactions during the coronavirus crisis: psychological stress, grief, isolation/loneliness and panic.
Last year, a conversion therapy ban passed the Minnesota House; Sen. Scott Dibble’s companion bill has been reintroduced in the hopes of receiving a hearing and a full vote this session.
Growing their numbers just might be the answer to the state’s serious shortage of mental health workers.
“Making a connection and making a friend, that’s something that grieving people need,” said camp founder Paul Thomas “PT” Hohag. “They need to feel like they have advocates and supporters.”
