Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
Rick Stahl, in his red Suicide Prevention truck in memory of Russell Stahl, prepares to lead the annual Valley CARE Coalition Mental Health Awareness Walk from the Valley Event Center to the Hands of Hope Mural Site on June 6.
Gracie Otten, Miss Glasgow Teen, addresses the crowd before the Mental Health Awareness Walk June 6. Otten's platform is raising awareness around mental health and suicide in Montana.
Taylor Hohlen welcomes community members to the annual Valley CARE Coalition Mental Health Awareness Walk June 6.
Geno Morris shares his story about mental health and healing at the annual Valley CARE Coalition Mental Health Awareness Walk June 6. Morris spoke of his childhood foster homes and juvenile detention after being born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and addicted to heroin. He highlighted how a community member reached out to him to guide him to health and recovery. Morris, who is new to Glasgow, is currently pursuing his peer support license to help others.
Valley CARE Coalition hosted their annual Mental Health Awareness Walk June 6. Community members and speakers gathered at the Valley Event Center along with law enforcement escorts to hear new perspectives on the need for awareness around and care for mental health.
Taylor Hohlen of FMDH and the CARE Coalition welcomed participants with a reminder that any time is a good time to address and maintain mental health. She then turned the microphone over to Gracie Otten, Miss Glasgow Teen, who shared her pageant platform regarding mental health and suicide awareness in Montana. Otten shared statistics on deaths by suicide and the relation to rural life. Otten hopes to raise awareness through her competition in order to reduce the number of lives lost to suicide.
Geno Morris, new to Valley County and Glasgow, shared his personal story with the crowd to personalize mental health struggles and how to seek healing. Morris was born addicted to heroin and with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. He subsequently spent his childhood in and out of foster homes and juvenile detention facilities, feeling he had no worth or anything to offer the world. As an adult, Morris found the help and support he needed from a community member, outside the mental health system. "A community member did that for me," he said while explaining how the interaction spurred him to seek his peer support license.
Morris spoke of hope and optimism in addressing mental health issues, noting that the decision to heal is up to each individual but that he wants to be a person others can reach out to in times of need. Likening mental health to being stuck in a hole with no way out, he said he wants to be the person to climb down into the hole to offer help out. Morris offered up a vision of community-minded help and care while de-stigmatizing the culture surrounding mental health. He thanked the gathered community members for their attention and welcome to the area and said he looks forward to helping others through peer support.
Attendees then gathered behind Rick Stahl in his red Suicide Awareness truck to walk from the Valley Event Center to the Hands of Hope Mural Site behind the Glasgow City- County Library where they were welcomed with dinner, provided by SomaDis Deli and rock painting.
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