Healthcare, specifically mental health, is one of the top issues for young voters today. However, some voters may not understand how the government plays a role in this issue in their daily lives.
Too often mental health and wellness services are gated by cost, transportation, or in the COVID era even access to technology. Federal, state, and local government can directly impact mental health and wellness through providing funding, programs, facilitating grants and public-private partnerships, or simply venues like community centers for wellness programs. Within public systems, like schools, or as an employer, government funded wellness programs also reach tens of millions of Americans.
If this is an important issue to you, contact your local elected officials and ask what your local government is doing to support mental health and wellness programs. You may be surprised to learn about a series through your park’s department like this one in Raleigh, NC, a public-private partnership to provide community wellness programs, or a public school system that provides student wellness programs.
Alongside the growth of public funding for mental health and wellness, wellness has become the top grossing women-led industry to date. Women leaders in the industry have driven awareness, increased public funding, and provided countless services to Americans. To honor the great impact women have had in this industry, we offer you this list of women-led wellness resources as we continue to honor and celebrate #WomensHistoryMonth!
People Incorporated
Chief Executive Officer: Jill Wiedemann-West
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People Incorporated is a Minnesota-based, 501(c)3 tax-exempt status non-profit, that serves people with mental illness through integrated behavioral and mental health services. Services include meditation, aromatherapy, acupuncture, yoga, physical training and art and music therapy. Other programs include crisis residences, outpatient clinics, outreach to the homeless, residential treatment locations, case management and in-home health services for adults, children, and families. They also provide education for nutrition best practices and offer one-on-one or group sessions with a Certified Tobacco Treatment Specialist.
T.A.M.A.R Program (Trauma, Addictions, Mental Health, and Recovery)
Psychotherapist, Trainer and Clinical Supervisor: Alisha Saulsbury
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The TAMAR Project offers individual and trauma treatment to female inmates at the Ordnance Road Correctional Center (ORCC). Assessment and treatment services are provided by a licensed clinician. Mental health case management services are also available for qualifying inmates who receive TAMAR services. The basic premise behind TAMAR is a trauma-informed treatment in combination with motivational counseling and thinking to help offenders break the severe trauma, chronic depression and re-offending cycle.
Mental Health Coalition
Executive Director: Jennifer Moore
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The Mental Health Coalition brings together leading mental health organizations, brands, and individuals who have joined forces to end the stigma surrounding mental health and to change the way people talk about, and care for, mental illness.
Black Women for Wellness
Executive Director: Jan Robinson
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Holistic Wellness - Environmental justice workshops, nutrition and cooking classes, tips on living a natural lifestyle, sex education programs, Black maternal and infant health resources, and more.
Backline
Executive Director and Co-Founder: Hillary Gleason
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Backline is a nonprofit organization that connects music industry professionals and their families to mental health and wellness resources. They specifically work to find organizations and care providers that understand the music industry and its line of work.