Nonprofit News Your Community Connection
January 2016 • gazette.com/nonprofit Seniors
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Volume 2, Issue 1 • FREE Youth
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Center helps youth achieve education, career goals BY JEANNETTE HOLTHAM Youth Transformation Center
Deerfield Hills Community Center staff is using Youth Mental Health First Aid classes to help better mentor the more than 60 nearby kindergarten through fifth grade students enrolled in after-school programs. Pictured in front, L – R: Youth Program Director Dani Finau, After-School Program Director Lydia Keller, youth leaders Julie Slivka and Chandler Grady. Back L-R: Youth leaders AJ Nesby, Nicolas Lofton, Charles Hazard and Taylor Lofton.
Local nonprofits collaborate to bring mental health first aid to region BY LORI JARVIS-STEINWERT National Alliance on Mental Illness – Colorado Springs
There’s a growing movement of concerned community members in Colorado Springs who are equipping themselves with the knowledge and tools to respond to a substance abuse or mental health crisis. “Mental health challenges are common,” said Rachel Clements, coordinator of Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) and Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) in Colorado Springs. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, one in four people will struggle with a mental health challenge in
his or her lifetime, including depression, anxiety, substance abuse, eating disorders, bipolar disorder and more — the odds are good that you or someone you know will be affected. Mental illness is not rare, it’s a treatable medical condition, and the prognosis is good with the right treatment and care. Increasingly, experts know it’s important to treat mental health issues at onset rather than letting them go untreated for years — or even a lifetime. The warning signs are there, but most people don’t know what to look for. MHFA and YMHFA are – CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 –
Homefront: Free 6-week program for families, caregivers and friends of military service members and vets with mental health conditions 6 – 8:30 p.m. Wednesdays, beginning January 20
Carlos has a big dream — he wants to be the first in his family to graduate from high school. Tamara is putting herself through college, with hopes to join the military. The team at Youth Transformation Center (YTC) is helping them get there. Carlos is enrolled in a school in which he spends half the day recovering lost high school credits and the other half learning the skills of an auto mechanic. Tamara attends school and works in a daycare center where the “little people” hang onto her and don’t even want her to go on break. They are both on their way to achieving their dreams, but, life wasn’t always like this for these young people. When Carlos was only a few months old, his mother dropped him off at an abusive uncle’s house so she could feed her addiction to heroin. For entertainment, his uncle would throw Carlos across the room like a basketball. At age 16, during a Youth Transformation Center Boomerang workshop, Carlos shared his story with tears in his eyes. One year later, he said: “I stopped blowing off homework and handled my frustrations. I’m graduating next month.” Tamara also has a heartbreaking story: “Although I had respect as a leader of my gang, my – CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 –
For more information: 473-8477
namicoloradosprings.org/ education-and-classes/ homefront/ info@namicos.org
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