About This Project
As the US Surgeon General stated in his 2021 advisory, we are in the middle of an adolescent and young adult mental health crisis. I was already painfully aware of this. I lost my son to suicide July 2021. (My son’s story https://bit.ly/NathanielStory). I have learned much about mental health and resources that are available to families like mine. I often wonder how is it that I was not aware of these resources before my son’s death. Circle of Concern is a food pantry that serves West County. The majority of their clients are families just like mine, single parent household, usually the mother and 1-2 children. The goal of this project is outreach. During the month of July, 600 families that visit the food pantry will be given a Mental Health and Wellness Packet inside a reusable shopping bag. The Mental Health and Wellness Packets are an extensive collection of FAQ sheets, Tools and Resource Guides. Families will receive information about mental illness, self-help for maintaining mental health for all ages, access to online mental health screening, guides for parents to speak to their children about mental health, bullying, drug use and the 988 Lifeline that goes nationwide in July 2022. This is a collection of all the material I wish I had been aware of before my son died. The content included would have helped me see and understand the suffering my son was going through. We hope the Mental Health and Wellness Packet will provide another family with ideas and resources before their young people succeed in killing their pain. Printing costs for this project are estimated at $6800 and the reusable shopping bags are estimated at $1300. We would appreciate any help Thrivent can offer this community outreach project, our ultimate mission is to assist adolescents and young people to Thrive into Adulthood.In Support Of
Circle Of Concern
