Mental Health Services? Splendid!

If you're here, it's because you saw me post about this on Facebook, and you either 1) love me and want to know what the heck I'm doing or 2) have way too much time on your hands and should probably go to my house and do my dishes and/or laundry.

Anyway, as I said in my last (read: first) post, I've decided to highlight some agencies in my area that are doing great work for the community.  I'm also going to make a donation to each agency.

Holiday Charitable Giving Donation #1

Community Elements, formerly the Champaign County Mental Health Center, educates, advocates, and helps build communities of well-being by providing individuals and families a range of prevention, intervention, and mental health treatment services. These services are culturally inclusive, client/family-focused, and recovery-centered through service excellence, mentoring, and leadership.  

Okay, so I took that word for word from their website.  Anyway, Community Elements is a phenomenal resource in Champaign County.  They offer so many services including outpatient counseling, a 24-hour crisis line, transitional living programs for the homeless, and so many other programs.  A complete list of their programs can be found here.

I've seen how helpful some of these services can be.  In the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting last week, a lot of attention has been given to the inadequate mental health services available in our country, and while talking about it is a start, we still have so much to do as a society to make sure anyone who needs help has access to mental health care.

Community Elements accepts monetary donations which can be made directly on their website using Paypal.  Additionally, the website also has a wish list of items to be used at the different transitional living programs the organization runs.

I have a blog now? Splendid.

When I was shaping this idea in my head all day, I didn't think it would lead to me starting a blog, but alas, here we are.  So what is the point of this thing?  I'll tell you.

I've had a bit of bad luck lately, and it's really been bringing me down.  As a way of keeping my spirit up, I've been consciously reminding myself about the facets of my life that are not only okay, but good even.  I have shelter, food, clothing, a job, and people who love me.  This is more than a lot of people around me have, which gave me an idea.

I am by no means a wealthy person.  There are months when my paycheck just doesn't seem to go as far as I need it to go.  Despite that, I know that I am lucky to be able to take care of my basic needs (and often my frivolous desires) in a way that so many people around me can't.  There are incredible agencies in my community that do their best to help people meet their needs, but those agencies have their own expenses.  So in this week leading up to Christmas, I want to highlight a few of my favorite local agencies that do a great service in the community and could use support.  I will be making donations to these agencies, and I hope you will consider doing the same.

Continuing past the Christmas season, I hope to use this space as a way to spotlight other things I think are splendid, be they agencies, products, destinations, or even just cool (probably orange) kitchen gadgets.