A new way to improve mental health includes adding helpers, thanks to ArcaMind and Miller Dwan Foundation
The Miller Dwan Foundation is proud to be helping with the mental wellness in our community by making sure helpers are trained to support others. It's part of the ArcaMind global training institute.
A groundbreaking way to address mental wellness is proving effective in the Northland. It’s called Project Management Plus, which is an intervention developed by the World Health Organization. ArcaMind, a global training institute, is leading the way with it. ArcaMind is part of the Miller Dwan Foundation. Rick Gertsema, Senior Mental Health Advisor with the Miller Dwan Foundation, shares more. “We want to solve the mental health crisis. And so I researched what’s working globally. And now, we launched a pilot as the second city in the U. S. to begin doing work with scaled mental health interventions. ”The goal is to address depression, anxiety, and life stress by managing challenges before they become overwhelming. And you do that, by meeting with trained helpers. This expands the access to mental wellness. Heidi Rudstrom is one of the helpers. She’s also the Foreverwell Coordinator for the Lake Superior YMCA. “They reached out to different individuals and said, would you be interested? And because I’m someone who has been doing fitness classes and other sorts of physical areas, it just seemed like a win-win,” she said. You meet with helpers like Heidi for five sessions. “Learning these easy five strategies that just help us take all the little things that are going on in our mind and break it down. You get to know that person, they share things with you and you’re able to support them in so many different ways. ”Gertsema said they’ve done training with 30 community based organizations, here and across the country. From schools to loggers to more. And ArcaMind does have the data to prove it’s working. “We saw that their problems were affecting them less and less, from one week and then to five weeks, and then to 20 weeks later,” he said. Rudstrom added that it’s also helping her, as well. “I do get so much gratitude from that, because they feel so much better. And then I feel so much better. ”For more information about ArcaMind and Problem Management Plus:https://mdfoundation. org/get-involved/hopex/hopex-phases/For Related Stories:Mental Health