Washington hosting mental health summit

WASHINGTON — Grace C. Mae Advocate Center plans to host an event at Washington High School this weekend they’re calling a “mental health summit.”

Organization Co-founder and Director Patti Gilbaugh said the need for attention on mental health issues was higher than ever.

“The pandemic has sort of increased, anxiety, depression, suicide rates, our youth are going through so much,” she said. “We came up with the idea of doing a mental health summit with focuses on the literacy of mental health, and teaching kids about what is mental, health, how you protect it, why that matters.”

The event — open to grades 7-12 — will feature an array of informational assemblies, along with breakout groups to put those lessons in practice.

Washington was chosen in light of recent suicides, according to Gilbaugh.

“Last year, there were several tragedies in that area,” she said. “That’s our biggest office and we specialize in rural mental health for families. We do serve the entire life span, but we focus heavily on children … so we wanted to have our inaugural summit at a place that we call home.”

While Gilbaugh said kids were aware of mental health issues, they often struggled to address them.

“A lot of the problem seems to be that kids go to other kids for help,” she said. “Then, when something tragic happens, it’s the teens that feel responsible … so we want to find ways for kids to have reliable information, but also to help them understand that they are responsible for their own mental health. They can’t be responsible for their friends’ mental health, but they can connect them to somebody who can help.”

Those who attend are eligible for door prizes, with bigger rewards available to those who register in advance.

The summit starts at 9 a.m. Saturday, and concludes by 3 p.m. Gilbaugh said those who turn up are welcome to do so for only part of the event.

“We want people to attend, and … we understand that we’re competing with some pretty major things,” she said. “We don’t want people to feel they have to choose between one or the other. If they can come for a few hours, then they’ll get a few hours of benefit from it.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com