TOLEDO, Ohio — May is Mental Health Awareness Month and one organization is making sure you have the resources you need. The East Toledo Family Center is partnering with the city of Toledo to host the 2nd annual mental health fair.
More than 20 agencies and organizations, such as Talbot, NAMI, and New Concepts, will be in attendance.
The Youth Recreation Director Holly Keenen with the East Toledo Family Center said this annual fair was created when conversations on mental health began to rise. After collecting feedback from last year's event, the center realized the community needed help connecting with the agencies that could best fit their needs.
Last year the center served 50 adults and kids. This year they plan to double the amount of resources and community members at the mental health fair in order to break those barriers.
"We did get feedback, our families know that there are resources out there but sometimes they don't know how to get to them. So we are hoping bringing them all here to our local community center, they can educate themselves and really reach out to those resources at hand," Keenen said.
The East Toledo Family Center and the city of Toledo plan to bridge a gap between the heart and mind. They also say the fair helps to keep these resources connected to the community all year round.
Thanks to Issue 8, an increased tax for mental health services that passed earlier this year, the Keenen said new funding and opportunities are now available. This funding will be used to help connect the information they learn at the mental health fair to the programming they provide for kids and families.
"With our youth programs we are bringing those partners in just throughout our after school programs and our summer programming, so it's important to work with the partners that are already doing the services and the experts that can talk about those hard conversations that we may not be able to hold at home with our kids," Keenen said.
Keenen said mental health resources goes beyond therapy and they encourage you to come out tonight at 5pm to learn more.
The mental health fair takes place on May 8 at 5 p.m.
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