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Healthy Mind: Mental Health
We recognize that mental health issues need increased acknowledgement within our community. According to the CDC Wonder database, deaths due to suicide per 100,000 population have increased year-to-year 2017 -2019 in both Elkhart and St. Joseph counties. In 2019, the suicide rate for all counties in Beacon’s service area was higher than the Indiana average. In a less extreme measure, the number of poor mental health days per month continued to rise in Beacon’s service area from a low of 3.1 in Marshall County in 2014 to a high of 5 in St. Joseph County in 2018. The effects of COVID-19 have only increased stress and anxiety in our community.
In order to prevent suicide and support the mental health of our community, Beacon Community Impact has numerous initiatives and programs that help people get connected to the care they need. This includes our Adverse Childhood Experiences Initiative and our annual Leighton Lecture Impact Series event. Beacon Community Impact also partners with organizations who are working within one of our three focus areas:
Focus 1
Decrease stigma around mental health.
Focus 2
Youth and adult development; building protective factors.
Focus 3
Increase access to mental health services.
Community Partners
Community partners within this priority represent a wide range of programming aimed at improving the health of mothers and their children. Below is a list of our current partners with details on the programming they offer.
- Provide children facing adversity with strong and enduring, professionally supported one-to-one relationships that change their lives for the better, forever. 2020 Partner
- Gentlemen and Scholars, Inc. is a community based organization geared towards making youth in the community the best versions of themselves. They do this
- The SAVE Program will mentor two children all year round at Navarre, Coquillard, and Monroe elementary schools. Mentor and mentee will meet in person
- The Head Start program provides the following, but not limited to, for low income families: -Early education and kindergarten preparedness -Parent engagement & education
- Imani Unidad seeks to help marginalized members of the South Bend and Elkhart communities to improve their social, mental and emotional well-being through counseling,
- Awareness and Education: MHAM host events to promote education on a variety of mental health issues that affect the community. MHAM hopes to reduce
- Provides comprehensive, compassionate and affordable full scope family medicine and whole person care for the LGBTQ+ community as well as those who have limited
- PFC-SJC is a collaboration among youth-serving agencies in St. Joseph county that helps identify youth with emotional or behavioral health issues earlier, gets them
- Co-Parenting for Successful Kids This program helps parents develop plans for respectful, responsive and responsible co-parenting. The program is designed for separating, divorcing or
- Reins of Life, Inc. (ROL) promotes an inclusive environment for people of all walks of life, ages and abilities. ROL mission is to improve
- RiverBend Cancer Services improves the quality of life of cancer survivors and their families in our community through helpful advocacy, hopeful support and innovative
- Take Ten’s mission is to reduce youth violence by teaching skills to peacefully resolve conflict; that challenge is now expanding to teach these skills
- The Youth and Family Program seeks to connect youth with trained staff and volunteer adult facilitators through support groups, social events, enrichment opportunities, and
- United Health Services promotes the vitality of individual lives through education, direct services, and advocacy. Committed to the health of our community, we deliver
Beacon Community Impact Programs
In addition to our externally funded community partners, Beacon Community Impact provides the following programming within our Healthy Mind Priority:
- A program for Grades 5 and 6, Digital Citizenship offers guidance on the appropriate use of the internet and digital tools. It is Common Sense
- Students of the South Bend School Corporation receive education on healthy and unhealthy relationships, setting and respecting boundaries and good decision-making practices in relation
- Delivered in the local school system, students receive coaching on how to succeed in middle school and education on how to be a good
- Provides classes on child development to increase positive engagement between caregivers and their children.
- The PATHS program aims to facilitate students in finding and utilizing positive, nonviolent solutions to social problems.
- Middle school students in Elkhart County will receive a risk avoidance curriculum that emphasizes emotional health, setting boundaries, and the consequences of risky behavior
- Educates high school students and teachers about the warning signs of suicide and how to respond effectively in suicide emergencies.
- ROSE is a program that is designed to give pregnant women the skills and information that they need to lower their risk of postpartum
