MENTAL HEALTH HIGHLIGHTS IN MARCH

At Mental Health America of Hawaii, we love collaborating with our community partners and last week we helped to put on 3 community events to promote and improve mental health in Hawaii. Paul Gionfriddo, President and CEO of Mental Health America, joined us from Alexandria, VA to speak at each of these events.

On Wednesday, March 28th, we partnered with NAMI Hawaii on their annual state conference entitled, “Healthy Living for Mental Wellness” at the Pomaika’i Ballrooms with double the number of attendees from last year! Photo album here.

On Thursday, March 29th, we partnered with Sutter Health Kahi Mohala, PACT, CHOW Project, Ohana Health Plan, Helping Hands Hawaii, Representative John Mizuno, and Senator Roslyn Baker to hold Mental Health Awareness Day at the Hawaii State Capitol, which featured information tables by 22 organizations and was attended by over 20 legislators. At this event, we all worked together to highlight mental health as an important public health issue, raise awareness of current prevention and treatment opportunities, the organizations doing the work, and how elected officials can promote mental health in Hawaii. Photo album here.

During the evening of March 29th we held an educational forum on the important topic of Youth Suicide Prevention at Manoa Grand Ballroom. Paul Gionfriddo shared his thoughts on the Netflix streaming series “13 Reasons Why” and how it can help parents and other adults engage with youth on this topic in a safe and meaningful way. Attendees engaged in a Q&A session and also had the opportunity to talk with local mental health professionals. Photo album here.

This event was filmed by Olelo and will air next month:

Youth Suicide Prevention: A Response to 13 Reasons Why
5/6/2018 6:30 PM Olelo 54
5/11/2018 8:00 AM Olelo 54
5/14/2018 4:00 PM Olelo 54
5/26/2018 1:00 PM Olelo 54

It was a rewarding week of collaboration, community and championing mental health.

Mahalo to our partners and to Paul for sharing this week with us!