Celebrating our best

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Behavioral Health Care for all ages

Services for Everyone

Crisis Intervention Services

• 24/7 Crisis Line 1-833-295-0616

• 24/7 Crisis Welcoming Center at 105 Hall Street, Traverse City

• Mobile Crisis Teams for Adults and Children

• Crisis Residential Unit – new beds coming soon to Traverse City in partnership with Hope Network!

Integrated Health Services

• Integrated Health Clinic – primary health care open to adults and children in the community, regardless of insurance or ability to pay

Kandu Island Drop-In Center – a safe place to be, for all

Anti-Stigma and Education initiatives

• Mental Health First Aid

• Tools4Resilience Virtual Education Series - returning this May!

• Community education events and art shows

Did you know?

Public Community Mental Health Service Programs may serve 4 priority groups under the State of Michigan contract

Adults with serious mental illness

Children with serious emotional disturbance

People of all ages with intellectual/developmental disabilities

Those with co-occurring substance use disorders

Services for Eligible People to Nerf Wars, Dungeons & Dragons, and life-sized board game days, in addition to book bags and clubs. And the library’s 60 board games are becoming more popular, with circulation up 422 percent in the last three years, Logan said.

“Comparatively, we’re doing a lot with a little,” Logan said, noting the library operates four locations on a smaller budget than some with only two locations.

Benzonia

Speaking of a small but mighty library, Amanda McLaren, director of the Benzonia Public Library, has seen a sea change.

“Right before COVID hit, there was so much momentum. It’s sad … because with our programming, it feels like we’re starting from scratch,” McLaren said, noting that the experience has allowed staff to re-evaluate community needs. “I feel like in many ways we’re better off. We can reset and refocus.”

Things are now trending in the right direction, she adds. “What I do know is we’re c onsistently signing up new patrons. Everything is trending up, but we’re still not back [to pre-pandemic levels] by any means.” able to take the equipment and set it up so it’s in a convenient backpack,” McLaren said. “That’s been very popular as well.”

One major shift has been the use of library computers, which declined sharply as schools distributed Chromebooks to students and others purchased personal devices during the pandemic. “People were finding different solutions, and I think those solutions stuck in many cases,” McLaren said.

Regardless, a grant program helped the library purchase four laptops and hotspots, which has proved popular, and locals are still utilizing the facility’s Wi-Fi regularly, she said.

The Benzonia Public Library also partnered with the Traverse City library to buy hands-on STEM kits for kids that have been a big draw in both places, and preschool story time readings and monthly historical lectures are bringing in more patrons to Benzonia.

While the last three years have been challenging for the “small library with a big community impact,” McLaren believes the return of larger community events this year will help further raise awareness about all it has to offer. In addition to an annual holiday party and kids’ fun day expected to return in 2023, the library will host a touring Smithsonian exhibit in October called Museum on Main Street.

Future Hurdles

For Benzonia and Cadillac, the challenge moving forward will be the same as it has always been: funding. “Our biggest issue has always been funding,” McLaren said. “It’s a constant struggle.”

Grant programs that funded hotspots and Chromebooks will eventually cease, for example, leaving the libraries to foot the bill for Wi-Fi service or consider shutting down the program. In Cadillac, the library’s limited budget is also facing increased demand from folks moving north from downstate, where they’re accustomed to bigger and broader selections.

“We see an increase in demand we don’t have the same budget to meet,” Logan said. “There are two things we always need more of: money and space.”

• Psychiatry

• Therapy

• Counseling

• Case Management

• Autism Applied Behavioral Analysis

• Specialized Residential Services

• Long-term Services and Support

• Traverse House and Club Cadillac Clubhouse Programs

• Much more – please visit northernlakescmh.org/services

WHEN IN DOUBT,

CALL US!

24/7 Crisis: 833-295-0616

Warm Help Line: 800-492-5742

Customer Service: 800-337-8598

“Not really having folks on the computers has been interesting. We provide internet 24/7, and it reaches out to the parking lot,” McLaren said. “There’s always people out in the parking lot using the internet.”

While in-house computer use has declined, new offerings are drawing in patrons in other ways. The library launched ice skate rentals for the rink next door during the pandemic and revamped its children’s room with a light table and play kitchen, both of which were well received. “Our number of young families in the children’s room has increased significantly,” McLaren said.

A Remembering Benzie: An Oral History Project, funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, concluded with the equipment used donated to the library for locals to conduct their own recordings.

“Once the program ended, we were

In Traverse City, the TADL staff struggled with a displaced homeless population using the library last year, including incidents with intoxication requiring police intervention. Those issues have been largely solved through increased police presence and the return of a daytime shelter in the city, Howard said, resulting in “a drastic reduction of incidents in the library.”

Also on the radar of library officials is a nationwide trend of increasing requests to ban books. Though the issue has largely avoided northern Michigan, with only a single rejected request in Traverse City in recent years, the possibility of book-banning efforts coming to the region is a top consideration for all three librarians.

“We hope we don’t have a challenge, but we’re prepared if we do,” Howard said, a sentiment echoed by Logan and McLaren. “Most Americans love their public library and use it and want books to stay on the shelves.”

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$10 cover for Marco’s Pizza, wine by Aurora Cellars and beer from Short’s ENTER TO WIN:

Weekend stay for you and up to 13 friends in Honor with Big Platte Lake access

$400 professional headshot session from Twinlight Productions

$125 gift basket from Riley’s Candles

Simulator gift cards from Traverse City Golf Performance

Recess is brought to you by

By Chris Wendel

With the rapid, unpredictable shifts we’ve experienced in the world over the past few years, it’s difficult to imagine someone making predictions on how the next 30 years will play out. Yet that is what entrepreneur, CEO, and healthcare expert Ben Lytle attempts in his recent book “The Potentialist.” The term “potentialist” is defined by Lytle as one’s ability to maximize their potential based on the circumstances presented to them.

Growing up on a family ranch that emphasized the satisfaction of hard work and accomplishment, Lytle’s idea of success as defined throughout the book includes the importance of several things besides excess wealth. An emphasis on impactful work reoccurs throughout the book. Lytle predicts that changes and advancements in technology will dramatically increase our lifespans, which will dramatically change how we approach extending our careers.

“The Potentialist” opens with several scenarios of fictional characters navigating through the next 30 years. Lytle describes their futures by describing their lives, their challenges and bright spots that lie ahead. He then breaks down some of this new reality into the areas of health, wealth, and success.

Lytle’s belief is that medical advancements will allow people now in their 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s to live much longer (many well into their 100s) and have a higher quality of life those additional years. There will be a choice in the coming decades for those reaching traditional retirement age; those who thrive will have a strong sense of purpose including continued work and a required baseline of good health, exercise, nutrition, and regular sleep.

To Lytle, living well over the next 30 years also means having the financial resources to make it work. This “refinement,” as he calls it, will replace the traditional idea of retirement. This will require that people work longer to support their increased longevity. Flexibility in working locations and schedules will create a hybrid jumble of work situations.

“Refinement is the opposite of idleness,” Lytle states. “It’s the conscientious, active pursuit of all that we can be during our most vibrant years.”

In the chapter “Success,” Lytle challenges readers to adjust their priorities in their advancing years. This includes a shift from accumulating assets and things to living a more intentional life that values meaningful work. He discusses the need to take one’s accumulated experiences and wisdom to forge more personal career objectives.

“Success is an internal, wholly personal experience,” he writes. “It is a feeling that arises on its own and cannot be