May is Mental Health Awareness Month

Since 1949, May has been observed as Mental Health Awareness Month. At Operation New Hope, we focus on the mental health of our clients every day, but we take this month to focus on prevention, stigma reduction, and mental health advocacy. We hope you’ll join us. 

Each client enrolled in our Ready4Work reentry program is paired with a Case Manager, Job Coach, and Licensed Mental Health Counselor who develop and implement an individualized plan of care. We know that when people have the support needed to address the issues that may have led to their involvement with the criminal justice system, such as substance abuse and mental health symptoms, then they will be far more successful at securing stable employment and less likely to return to incarceration. Therefore, we are investing in even more mental health services to better support our clients’ success.

This year, we enhanced our current Mental Health Services Team by adding another full-time Licensed Mental Health Counselor to the two already on staff. This allows our counseling team more time with each client to better identify, address, and treat the clients’ needs. Additionally, this allows for more frequent and diverse group counseling sessions, including mental health workshops, AA meetings, client/buddy support for new clients, yoga with our partners at Yoga 4 Change, and art therapy.

Our team also works closely with employers to help them understand the value of hiring Ready4Work graduates and reduce the stigma associated with working with this population. This strengthens not only our employment partners’ workplaces, but also our clients’ families and the economy in the communities we serve.

After the last two years of pandemic living, many people are realizing that stress, isolation, and uncertainty have taken a toll on their well-being. This month, we hope that sharing  foundational knowledge about mental health & mental health conditions will help people find support if their mental health is a cause for concern.

#MentalHealthAwarenessMonth #SecondChances #HopeStartsHere