News Photo by Darby Hinkley Partners in Prevention has launched a Mental Health Map on their website that guides visitors through the process of navigating mental health resources available in their area. Pictured, from left, are Project Manager Kara Bauer LeMonds, Website Designer/Developer Carlos Vivero, and Partners in Prevention Program Manager Mary Schalk, with a laptop showing the Mental Health Map page, on Friday at the Partners in Prevention office in Alpena.

ALPENA — After over a year of development and preparation, Partners in Prevention has launched a Mental Health Map on their website that guides visitors through the process of navigating mental health resources availabile in their area.

The Mental Health Map launches today in Alpena County. It walks visitors through a series of questions pertaining to their current situation, and provides the mental health resources available in the county. It also factors in the age of the website visitors, in order to provide the proper resources for those younger than age 18, as different resources are offered for youth and adults.

Mental Health Maps will be available for Presque Isle, Montmorency, and Alcona counties by this summer.

To view and navigate through the Mental Health Map, visit partnersinpreventionnemi.org/mental-health-map.

“Initially, there’s this misconception that there are not a lot of resources in our small town for mental health care,” said Kara Bauer LeMonds, project manager. “As I started digging, I found that there are a lot of partners in town that are doing some really great work … So, what we decided to do was locate those community partners and link them all together.”

Partners in Prevention is mid-point in a four-year Mental Health and Awareness Training Project grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. This grant covers Crisis Intervention Training for first responders, Situational Awareness Training for those in community-facing jobs, Mental Health First Aid, Youth Mental Health First Aid, ASIST, and safeTALK for those in the community, and for Partners in Prevention to build a Mental Health Map of a comprehensively compiled and regularly updated list of mental health resources it serves.

This long-awaited map is a product of years of research and collaboration with Partners in Prevention’s community partners to give a fully comprehensive map of the current resources for mental health care and treatment in Alpena County. Those partners include Alpena County Emergency Medical Services, Alpena County Sherriff, City of Alpena Police Department, Northeast Michigan Community Mental Health, Alcona Health Center, MyMichigan Medical Center, Thunder Bay Community Health Services, National Alliance on Mental Illness, Catholic Human Services, dozens of local therapists, and more.

“The partnership we were hoping to foster between our first responders, our schools, our court system, our justice system, and our community is actually already in place,” LeMonds said. “I was pleasantly surprised the more people I met with, that our community is already working so closely together on this issue. This town, I can say, is working very hard on every level to make sure that people are not simply being punished and tossed aside, but are being supported and helped as much as possible.”

She said finding the right path to getting the services one may need can be very complicated and she is hoping people find this map helpful and valuable in helping to doing that.

“We’re proud and happy to be ready to launch Alpena, which is our biggest county, so it has the most resources,” LeMonds said.

Carlos Vivero, of Vivero Industries, designed and developed the website, partnering with LeMonds and Mary Schalk, Partners in Prevention program director.

“The way that we approached this project is we tried to build something that anybody of any age could use,” Vivero said. “We aimed for the easiest possible navigation because, for those people who may be experiencing an emergency, they might not have a lot of time to look up these resources, which is why we decided to emphasize the ease of navigation part of it.”

LeMonds worked with Vivero to include all the resources currently available. She added that the site will be updated regularly as new information comes in.

“Carlos and I have been putting together a big puzzle,” LeMonds said.

“It’s been quite a technical project, because with all these resources, you have to make sure that all of them connect correctly with each other in designated categories,” Vivero said.

“We’ve worked really well together,” LeMonds said. “All three of us have such stake in what this can mean, and how it can help other people … We are all invested in this work and want to do what’s best for our community.”

“We value and appreciate each other’s strengths,” Schalk added.

LeMonds said the Mental Health Map is for everyone.

“In my opinion, I think a resource like this is super important, because it doesn’t just focus on trauma,” LeMonds said. “It doesn’t just focus on crisis. It focuses on the overall picture, which I think can be missed on a broader scale. Mental health challenges are something that can affect all of us, at any time, and that we all remain on a sliding scale of incident. We are each just one trauma, one accident, one major loss, away from needing mental health services.”

She said everyone can benefit from caring for their mental health, which will, in turn, make our community healthier overall.

“It’s not just when you’re in crisis,” LeMonds said. “Being conscientious of your mental health and taking care of yourself is important across the board. So, we mapped preventative services as well. We went into sports, and art, and music, and things that bring you joy, and bring you out in the community. Those are indicators of healthy mental health. To be healthy in the mental health space is to have some flexibility, to be able to deal with difficult things without becoming totally dysregulated.”

She said taking care of your mental health includes exercise, taking time for hobbies you enjoy, and talking to trusted friends, among many other things.

“How do you take care of yourself? Is it in a destructive way, or is it in a healthy way?” LeMonds asked. “A big part of it, for us, was joining all the parts, and letting people know that good mental health and being well is a wonderful thing, and it’s also something that our whole community is behind you on.”

Vivero added that the Mental Health Map makes it easier to find what you need quickly.

“One thing that I really like about this tool is it does help take out a lot of the guesswork when you’re trying to reach a resource,” Vivero said. “It really points you in the right direction, based on the scenario that you’re facing.”

“When people get in here and they start exploring, I think they’ll be just amazed by the amount of resources,” Schalk said. “We can’t let that be a roadblock and say, ‘There isn’t any help.’ There’s lots of help. People just don’t always know where to look.”

The Mental Health Map outlines protocol of local first responders, the legal system, and medical systems, for crisis situations, and lists general resources for a starting point for anyone wanting to care for their mental health. The website also includes preventative services that encourage lifestyle choices that support good mental health.

“We interviewed these different places, and got some of their general protocols,” LeMonds said. “On this map, you have more information than you would normally have if you just jumped to their website. So, we did that heavy lift for you. We went in, and we talked to the police about protocol. We talked to CMH and Pointe East about protocol. We talked to the emergency room about what their protocol is. And, the idea behind that extra dive was to give the user, at least, a starting off point. Every situation is different, so we’re not saying this is what’s always going to happen. We’re saying this is the standard protocol.”

She added that the Mental Health Map connects people to resources they may not have been aware of in our community.

“Partners in Prevention has laid out a multitude of local resources so that those in our community can find a variety of approaches to advocate and care for their mental well-being,” LeMonds stated in a press release. “It also enables our community partners to identify each other and to recommend resources to those they are serving. Additionally, the map includes protocols of certain more complicated mental health crisis, such as an arrest, injury, or attempted suicide. This helps our community have some helpful information on next steps and helps to manage community expectation of what is available. Importantly in a project like this, it helps our rural communities identify what is working well and what isn’t working so we can act as a collective voice to advocate and bring attention to what we need to build on.”

Reach Darby Hinkley at dhinkley@thealpenanews.com, or call 989-358-5691.