Latest / Our Community, Our Mission / Ep #177 - Partnering for Mental Health

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Ep #177 - Partnering for Mental Health · Our Community, Our Mission

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you, lord, for this day and your blessings and provisions.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: God, thank you for this time to record this podcast.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Thank you for our special guests and the expertise that he brings.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Pray that you would just bless this conversation and our time together.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: In your holy name We pray, amen.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Hello everybody.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: You're listening to our community, our mission, a podcast of the Topeka rescue mission.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: This is Barry Fiecker with Miriam Krabel here this morning.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: We're on June the 7th.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Yes, i'm very.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: This is a very special day for you.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: It's national.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: It's a special day for me.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Well, are you talking about the fact that it's a chocolate ice cream day?
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Well, no.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: We have that too, miriam, but it's, it's something to be united about, oh.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: You're talking about United Way.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: That's right And this is their day of giving that's their day of giving absolutely.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, and what a wonderful partnership we have with United Way.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: We really do, yeah, and the reason I'm good for people that don't know, miriam Krabel, who's director of support he serves to speak of rescue missions.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: She's the former CEO of United Way.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: I was that, and in Bakersfield, california, yes, and you were somewhere else back in the 1800s, somewhere.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, just when it was starting, right you know.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: So for those of you are totally confused.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: It's June 7th of 2023.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: This is podcast number 177.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and we are thrilled.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: We are thrilled about it being the United Way Day of Giving.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: We get funding from United Way for Our food programs, which is just incredible.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: They but I would have to say, barry, that I think our partnership with United Way is so much more valuable than just that money.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: They have been a great partner with us, whether it's on the warming station that we had to do very quickly and helping us with volunteers.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: They were so important when we were doing operation food secure.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: They're so important to us when we're talking about policy issues.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: United Way is just an incredible Asset to the community when it comes to working collaboratively And really trying to bring everyone together Around issues and including those that we're trying to assist.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: So I'm I'm a big fan of United Way.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: You know well, yes, you are, and so am I.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: You know it's it's.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: It's Really wonderful for nonprofits To be able to work together and to promote each other.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: Yes, because it gets done better that way.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: We're gonna be talking to another nonprofit leader here this morning about Partnerships and doing it together and not saying, hey, ours is better than yours.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: We all have a unique role right in helping our community be healthy community right, and it takes all of us right.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: Any of us alone are not ever going to be able to do what we can do together.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, that's right.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: So we're gonna, we're gonna get more into that and with our, with our special guests here today.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: But back to this special day.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: You mentioned its national chocolate ice cream day.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: Yes, it is.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: Remember you remember how that got started?
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: I do.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: I have no National chocolate ice cream day.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, national chocolate ice cream day It started by the Italians and you should remember this was in 1692 Started freezing hot chocolate.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: I'm coming for you, ma'am.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: You know that you learned that in grade school.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: You were in grade school then, no, anyway, so I was too.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: It's something else that you and I I'm filtering so much right now that I have nothing.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: I can even say that that would be appropriate.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: That's why I can say it now, because I wouldn't say it privately, because I hear things that I shouldn't hear for my tender ears, but it's also if you're gonna have national chocolate ice cream day, you have to have something to counterbalance that, and so it's also national, global, not national, but global.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: What do you do after you eat ice cream?
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: run then, taking that?
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: yeah, it's running day, global running day.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: Yes, all right now.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: Now this one at the same time After remember back in the olden days when you had to watch a Movie yes and it wasn't on the, the one channel that you had on your television.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: Okay, I had three growing up.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: you had three grown up, Okay but then it advanced to something that you could take this little Square rectangle type thing and put it into a machine and it would play your movie.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: You remember what those are called.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: It sounds like a VCR.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: Oh my goodness.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: Do you know when they were first developed?
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: No, I never know that kind of stuff.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: Do I care me used to be smart.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: I mean they know in 1956.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: Do you know, these years have been around.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: I wasn't born in 1956, you weren't.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: No, i know you were born in 1692, so, but anyway.
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: So that was old, old news by then.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: But anyway, 1956 I didn't know.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and this is also national VCR day.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: It wasn't until 1970.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: Were you around by then?
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: I was Okay, all right, that definitely was They became popular.
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: They became popular And it's a so be kind and rewind day.
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: Okay, Be kind and rewind day.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: You know that was an issue If you got a VCR tape that wasn't rewound.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: Mmm, I know It was not a good day, Exactly.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: And look where we are today.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: We got these little devices that held her in our hand and we can do whatever we want, i know.
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: Unfortunately, we don't know how to use them Not always, not always.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: But anyway, they're pretty cool, I think.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: Anyway, Maryam Crabill, director of supporting services to peak a rescue mission, Now that you're back with us and you know you become smarter about what today represents, tell us about some updates at to peak a rescue mission.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: You know, barry, it's been.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: I haven't been here for about a week because I and a whole bunch of other folks from TRM went to Florida to be with other rescue missions to I was going to say to clarify why Florida did not not just chilling right Exactly.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: Well, that's where a conference was.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: No there.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: No, in fact there was not a lot of downtime whatsoever, and I was with young people, barry, Let me just say I'm not as young as I used to be.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: They can stay up a lot later than I can, but anyway, that's not the point.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: You did tell them to go to the beach at a certain time and tuck them in.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: I did not.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: Oh, there you go, that's why.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: I held back on playing motherhand, but I was going.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: Seriously, can you not be quieter?
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: No, i really wasn't.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: I was just a group of team to be with And we did learn.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: so so so much.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: Being with a CityGate conference and all of the other folks that are doing the same work we are, that are from rescue missions it is inspiring and humbling and refreshing all at the same time.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: We're hearing The things that people are facing around the nation are the same things that we're facing, whether it's staffing challenges, whether it's an aging population of people who are experiencing homelessness, whether it's the other issue that we're going to talk about in just a little bit, whether it's just everything.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: We're all facing kind of the same things and trying to really understand how do we do this best, how do we do better for people?
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: How do we really make sure that we are hearing from the Lord on how we progress, how we really look at all of these situations?
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: It was just wonderful, exhausting and wonderful all at the same time.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: How many people from different rescue missions?
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: Over 1200.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: Over 1200.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, from North America, and also we had people from other places too.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: There was someone there from Scotland or England, one of those places, i mean.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: So there were people from other countries as well.
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: It isn't amazing to see what people are doing uniquely in different communities.
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: Yet the same issue, but learning from each other And, of course, from what we understand.
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: There was a lot of sharing from what Topeka is doing.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: Absolutely.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: And it has been, which has influenced ministries, like in Hawaii.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: In Hawaii, yeah, which is amazing, right, and the partnerships that we had developed here, and when they heard about that last year from Amanda, that inspired them to go back and start praying about how they can do some things like that in Hawaii.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: On the islands?
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: yeah, Because they have a huge homeless problem.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: Absolutely.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: And so they learned from Topeka Kansas, yes, how to import what we had done and tailor uniquely for their situation in Hawaii.
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: And there's going to be ongoing conversation, from what I understand, between Hawaii and Topeka Kansas.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: Yes, maybe we just need to go there I was going to say I'm pretty sure maybe that's a road trip we should be taking, maybe not a road trip Going to get real wet, it might be, it might be a little wet.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so that's great.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: Any other updates?
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: No, i think that's good enough, so we can get right to our guest.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: One of the things that was discussed at the City Gate Network and again, this is a group of associating rescue ministries in North America and around the world that come together to learn from each other, to share information, to basically better together to do this is the importance of focusing on the mental health of our people we serve.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: As one of the attendees at the City Gate Conference says that the emphasis here it's not like we shelter and feed and educate and so forth and we do mental health services.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: It's that mental health services must be fully integrated in everything we do, because there's so many people suffering from chronic mental health conditions who are homeless.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: Not only that, there's a focus on helping the workers that work with those who are broken and suffering focus on mental health.
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: So we have been so blessed in this community and I think it's exemplary of working together and relationships that we've been able to share locally as well as beyond ourselves, is the relationship we have with our mental health services here at the peak called Vallejo, and once again we're just privileged to have the CEO, bill Persinger, with us today.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: Vallejo Behavioral Healthcare, which formerly was a Shawnee Community Mental Health Center Correct, before you and I were born, bill.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly Right, maryam was here.
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: Hold on, i want to tell you?
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: was that my class reunion last weekend?
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and so US Grant and I were going over several times.
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: Well, it was exciting, wasn't?
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: it To remember.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: Bill, you know we've had you on our community, our mission, before and you're frequently in meetings with us and here at the mission.
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: You've how long have you been in the saddle with Vallejo and then before that I arrived at Vallejo in November 2015.
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: Okay, I was fortunate enough to be selected as their chief executive officer and just love our work, I love our mission, I love our combined missions And just try every day to do the right thing for people.
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: And you know you said something earlier, Barry, about us not being alone And you know we tell our clients, we tell our community and you see the signs you are not alone, but we are not alone.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: The rescue mission, the mental health center.
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: You know our partners at the Salvation Army and others.
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: We're not alone.
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: We have each other.
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that means something to me.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: Bill, you've been involved in mental health services for before 2015.
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: So, before you came to Topeka, what were you doing?
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: Well, you know I was talking to Josh here a little bit ago.
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: Looking at the calendar, i'm not going to turn one any of those guys that tell stories over and over again about his long career, but it was.
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: I started working helping people in 1974.
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: I was at undergrad in Emporia and went to Hetlinger Developmental Center, which is their TARC, if you will, and so that would be 50 years next year that.
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: I've had some kind of helping profession And that in that, yeah, and most of that time I've been a chief executive, i've worked at four of our mental health centers here in the state of Kansas been an honor and a privilege to serve at everyone.
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: And you know I was called here.
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: I felt like, not in the spiritual sense or the pastoral sense, but called and all just felt inside me, compelled to come here, we call that calling too.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, calling, thank you.
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: It feels like a calling.
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: And here I am, at nearly 68, get up every morning bright and early and go to work.
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: You know like it was my first day, you know, back in 74.
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: And just.
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: I believe in what we do.
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: I believe in what we do together And I want to thank you for your support.
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: We want to thank you and we want to get kind of more into that today.
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: You remember VCRs too, don't you?
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: I do.
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: I remember an email came out.
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: I'm like I don't need this Oh no kidding What Yeah.
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: I've vowed never to do it.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: Well, and we sometimes wish we didn't have to anymore.
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: I know, yes, yes, most of the days, but anyway this kind of convened in a curse Bill.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: Tell us about Vallejo, a little bit about its history in Topeka, maybe a little bit about the kind of switch from our institutional settings to community-based mental health programs.
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: And what is Vallejo?
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: today.
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: So Vallejo today is provisionally certified as a community behavioral health clinic.
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: We're still going to be a licensed community mental health center, but as a federally recognized behavioral health center.
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: A lot like our partners Grace Med, they're federally recognized as a healthcare facility, federally qualified healthcare facility.
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: So Vallejo and Family Service and Guidance Center will both be recognized as community behavioral health clinics And as such we'll be able to provide more access to care, better outreach, better follow-up, better data, you know, just an ongoing improvement in the quality of care.
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: But Vallejo was founded in 1967 and through our history we've provided services to adults with chronic and severe mental illness, as well as individuals, adults who are addicted to alcohol, drugs.
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: You know, last 10, 15 years the methamphetamine problem has really been a focus.
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: So in short, vallejo is a community mental health center offering a full range of psychiatric and addiction treatment services.
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: We do everything except provide standard inpatient psychiatric care.
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: Our partners down the road at Stormont Vale West provide that level of care.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: But you do have a crisis center.
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: We do have a crisis center.
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: We have 72-hour voluntary care for people who need some time to pull back, you know, given the pain that they're suffering, and an opportunity for us to help them get back up on their feet, you know, get back to their families, get back to work And a lot of them do.
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: We've been able to avoid placing people at the state hospital because we have a 72-hour crisis care program.
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: We started many, many years ago actually, i think as far back as 2012 and build a facility in 2014.
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: But, you know, any opportunity we get to help people remain at home with their families, to find work, you know, to find meaning in their life, we do that.
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: We don't do that alone And I said earlier, we are not alone.
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: We get our mission done with you, folks at the Topeka Rescue Mission and the Health Department through the county and, you know, salvation Army and Stormont Vale and other other partners help us get this work done.
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: So if a person needs maybe just a few counseling sessions, maybe they've got kind of a problem of living.
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: You know a mental health concern, and then you know maybe somebody has a pretty serious mental illness, like schizophrenia or bipolar disease, some forms of depression and anxiety.
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: We have ongoing care that people can engage in and get services wrapped around them.
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: People who are experiencing mental health crisis or ongoing just challenges the mental health or their family member know this all too well.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: For people who, fortunately, have not experienced it within a family member themselves, what's the prevalence of the magnitude of people who suffer from mental illness in maybe the nation, or specifically here in our area?
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: So for adults it is said and it shows in the research that something like one in five or one in four have a mental health concern.
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: Folks who have a more of a serious mental illness like schizophrenia and bipolar disease, some forms of depression, you know the numbers are more like three or four percent, so two or three out of every.
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: You know 100 people.
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: But those, while we see people recover every day from those more serious problems, they do require more ongoing and intensive treatment.
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: You know lots of outpatient care, medication, follow-up, in-home services, you know, help with employment and housing and things like that.
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: So we say that the prevalence of schizophrenia and bipolar disease probably around two or three percent population.
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: But those folks can require many hours of services every week that they lead and they direct, they decide what they want to work on.
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: So you know, in the old days of psychiatry and mental health you came in, you saw the doctor.
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: He or she told you what to do.
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: You did it or not.
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: Now it's a participatory arrangement with the person served.
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: Who's in control of that?
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: So you want to work on housing.
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: You want to work on your anxiety.
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: You want to work on your health care.
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: You want to work on your family relationships you want to work on, you know, maybe your thoughts, your thought processes, you know you know making more sense to you and others.
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: Let's work on that.
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: So it's client-driven, person-served drive that care So very much centered around what they want to accomplish, how they see themselves becoming stronger and more independent, self-reliant self-sufficiency.
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: So you serve both populations.
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: In regards to those who are suffering from that smaller percentage, around three percent, but the one in five you serve is that group as well.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: We do Describe kind of the you know the struggling with mental health.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: Maybe not, maybe not skits for any bipolar disorder, but what are some of the of that Sure?
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: You know what we see.
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: Just for general conversation, I kind of see a quadrant.
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: I see people who have problems of living, mental health problem, anxiety, family relationships that maybe not what we want them to be.
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: Stress at work, you know, insomnia, headaches, just stress, and so just problems that a lot of people experience every day mental health problems or problems of living.
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: Maybe they're struggling with, you know, a bad marriage, or you know kids that have problems, or you know that kind of thing.
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: And then there are a group of people, a smaller percentage of people, who have, you know, a mental illness like schizophrenia, bipolar disease, some forms of depression.
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: And so I kind of divide, you know, mental health care up into more short term, you know solution focused counseling for people that have problems of living, problems every day, and in longer term, services, you know, still focused on what the individual wants to accomplish, for people to have mental illness like schizophrenia.
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: And then, within substance abuse, i see people who abuse substances, who have problems with alcohol or drugs, but they may not be addicted, but it definitely has affected their life Negative consequences, work, home, school, community, legal consequences, sometimes DUI, for example.
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: Then there are people who are physically, psychologically, addicted to one chemical or another alcohol, methamphetamine, you know other kind of substances that we see.
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: So I kind of see, so you design a treatment around.
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: Okay, am I a person with a problem of living?
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: Maybe I need medication for a short time?
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: you know, 10 or 15 counseling sessions, i can be on my way.
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: Am I a person who needs, you know, medications to help with a thought disorder or emotions that run out of control?
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: And do I need support every week for quite a while?
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: And then with addiction, you know, maybe I need an evaluation to find out where I'm?
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: at some counseling sessions I go to AA or NA, i get back up my feet and carry off my life.
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: Or am I physically addicted?
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: Do I need a 28 day program to get my recovery started?
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: So that's kind of how I see things, and so Vallejo would be there for all of those individuals.
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: And again a lot of partners.
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: That's a lot of bases that you cover.
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: Thank you, and I want to, you know, give people a perspective that some of our problems are more short term, others are more long term.
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: The message of hope is the same for everybody.
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: We see people recover every day.
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: When you say recover, what does that mean?
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: You know, get back up on their feet emotionally.
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: You know sleep better.
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: Deal with their health problems.
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: Fix their marriage.
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: You know, engage in more positive social relationships.
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: Find a better job.
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: Find a job, find a place to live just a way to fit into society and succeed and do what they want to do, bill from what I've read, it appears that there is a substantial increase in people that are facing some form of mental health challenge.
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: When we look at the millennial and the Gen Z population now, there's a lot of reports about younger people facing serious depression, And so is that what you're seeing as well.
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: has there been an increase in need related question to that?
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: If that's the case, how far have we come to being able to meet that need compared to where you've seen it historically?
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: So you know, we have seen in public behavioral health that every level of government has stepped up in the last couple of years to help out.
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: City, county, state, federal have all developed more proactive and deeper policies around mental illness addiction, both for adults and children, and funding has improved to that extent.
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: Then we're able to reach out to more people.
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: Because we have noticed, particularly in our crisis services for adults and I think the folks at Family Service and Guidance would tell you the same thing an increased acuity.
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: Some of the symptoms that people are experiencing when they show up with the crisis and, by the way, crisis center is open 24 hours a day are more acute.
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: People are wrestling with bigger problems.
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: Their symptoms are more acute, the anxiety is more overwhelming and more and more seeing people who are suffering from psychiatric problems like anxiety, depression, other kinds of problems mixed with substance abuse, which you know.
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: Recovery is still possible, but we have to address both of those problems.
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: So we're seeing not only more people asking for help but the acuity of the symptoms.
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: The situations that people are bringing in are much more challenging, clicking the last, oh, i'm going to say four or five years, exacerbated somewhat by the pandemic, but not totally as a result of that.
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: Just you know, people feeling disconnected from their families, from society.
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: So I think we need to find a way to help people get grounded, feel like they're a part of something again.
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: So You're seeing increase.
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: You're seeing, but also levels of government stepping up.
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: What about the perception of community?
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: I've been in mental health work as well, before coming to the rescue and working in institutions.
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, i shared this with you before I did my college internship at what would be called Vallejo now, when it was a very small organization I think we had about 11 staff Shawnee Community Mental Health Center.
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: It's certainly flipped around to even the acceptance of being able to say I'm challenged with mental health problems, or I face depression, or I've got a family member, or it used to be.
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: We don't want to talk about it, we don't want to admit it and we're afraid we're going to catch it.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: So where have you seen that come?
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: I'll tell you what you know the delivery of behavioral health care, and I include when I say that term, mental health care and recovery from addiction and substance abuse.
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: You know, and it still does, we provide our services in private, behind closed doors or in people's homes.
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: But we're also opening that up and providing more services out there where people are Jails, nursing homes, street corners, with the rescue mission staff and following your lead on that, you know, providing crisis care to the people on the street with our Topeka Police Department and County Sheriff Partners and the Co-Responder Program.
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: So we have kind of opened up and, i think, let the light in, so to speak, on mental health care.
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: So it's not such a mystery behind and you know.
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: So if you come in, you talk one on one, we'll close the door.
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: It's private, we guard your information you know, tooth and nail.
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: So that's still private.
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: but we also try to be where the people are.
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: So the mobile access partnership we probably talk about, that you know, really unfolds, opens up and takes the lid off of the secrecy box about behavioral health care.
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: But again you come in, you tell your story to a therapist, a case manager appear.
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: it's private, sure.
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: So to be where the people are makes it look available, more normal to ask for help and more doable.
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: So I know at the mental health center our credo it has said last seven or eight years let's set things up so that people kind of trip on us.
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: You know you can't hardly go anywhere and not see a Vallejo staff person.
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: In fact I tell people you drive by parking lot at Vallejo during hours and there aren't very many cars there.
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: That's a good thing.
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: We're out doing our jobs where people are at work and other places where particularly client homes and their own private residences.
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: but we really try to open it.
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: So if there's more conversation, more visibility, there's less stigma and less fear and more understanding about the suffering that people experience when they are addicted to drugs or alcohol, when they have a serious mental illness, if you can take the lid off and shine some light on that and still maintain privacy, which of course we do.
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: I want to emphasize that.
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: I think I've said that three times, i won't say it again, but being out there where the people are makes it accessible and makes it okay to ask for help.
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: So it's not a taboo Yeah, not a taboo.
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: You know it used to be cancer.
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: They called it the big C because they didn't want to say the word cancer, and then diabetes and other things, and so we become more aware that people actually have these problems and it's not because you're unique or unusual or something wrong that you're a bad person.
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: Mental health seems to be gaining some momentum in that regard.
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: I think so.
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: I think we've normalized it.
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: I think by talking about it, we give talks, we do podcasts like this, where my friends are all the time like so are you on TV again, per Singer?
• 27:02
  Speaker 3: Well, you know what?
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: We need to get the word out, because the last thing I want to hear is somebody didn't know, didn't have any clue about where to get help.
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: I think people know that now.
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: So part of it is that they didn't feel comfortable.
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: We just want to make it feel comfortable, feel natural to ask for help.
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: If you can't solve a problem on your own, reach out and ask for help.
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: Maryam, you've obviously you're pretty involved in this area of mental health with our staff here at Topeka Rescue Mission, and so talk about the system that was created to address this, with the trauma interventions and beyond that.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: You know, this focus on staff really kind of started a couple of years ago at a CityGate conference when we were really encouraged to make sure that we placed a lot of focus on our first flock, not just the folks we serve, but our first flock, which was our staff.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: And that was a huge impact on both Amanda and myself, just saying you're absolutely right, and in coming back and then talking with our trauma education development team and saying, okay, what can we do here?
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: Because we know that many of our staff have experienced first hand trauma and they also experienced second hand trauma all the time because of what they deal with on a daily basis.
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: So, developing a program where all of our staff are trained, regardless of their position, whether they're on the front lines or whether they're in the kitchen or whether they're at the distribution center or wherever they are.
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: they go through trauma education training with TBRI, so Trust-Based Relational Intervention Training, to make sure that, number one, they can understand what might be happening with the folks that they're serving, but that they can also kind of have a deeper understanding on why they might react in the way they do to what they see, what they feel, how people are behaving.
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: And it has just made an incredible difference, as we've watched what realization folks come through.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: You know it's not meant to be counseling, but what we have found is that that training alone we can't stop there, because it is triggering to some of our staff, and so we do need to make sure, then, that we have those other kinds of supports in place or know where to refer people when all of a sudden things start bubbling up that they maybe weren't recognizing in the past.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: But the mental health of our staff is so important.
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: So healthy first flock is going to be able to help others who are in crisis a whole lot better.
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: they're struggling themselves, Right, it's hard for broken people.
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: to help broken people heal, and so how do we help our folks not be broken?
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: If I'm going in for surgery I'm going to say Doc, how are you feeling today?
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, i hope you're having a good day.
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: I'll just sleep.
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: last night, And so those are just kind of practical things.
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: You know there's been a shift and I think it's fortunately a good shift.
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: Finally, When I first entered into mental health work, there was a big dichotomy between faith and mental health And there was a kind of a pushing away of recognizing spirituality in the area of mental health.
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: Institutional work especially is that you go to church.
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: For that you come here for this was very interesting to look at.
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: The Minneger Foundation and how they started.
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: Is CF Minneger and Flow Minneger were very strong believers in Christ and they started this little institution on a farm over on 6th and Gage.
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: That was spirit based or Christian based and mental health based as trained medical people.
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, the YMCA Bible study that is gone global, which is a four year intensive Bible study, was called the Minneger Bible study at one time, and sometimes it's not changed.
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: Flow wrote.
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: Flow wrote that What happened over the years is that we begin to see these two very compatible areas of soul, mind, emotions and spirit coming apart.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: Today, though, it's coming back together and that more people of faith are not afraid to admit or say or embrace mental health services, and unfortunately, that's been out of tragedy.
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely, and I talked with one of our team members not that long ago about some real hurt that this person had because of how the church handled mental illness and what this person was struggling with and the comments about if you can just pray your way through this kind of thing.
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: And that's so dangerous, or quit your meds because you're not trusting God.
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: And I think I pray that the church comes around this and really understands that these are not separate things, these are things to be done together and that it isn't an indication of lack of faith.
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: Thank you, you need additional kinds of help to work through, whether it's everyday things, whether it's long term things, all of those things.
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: I think it's critical for the church to embrace, all of all of the things that are available for people who are struggling.
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: Number of churches in Topeka are coming together to have a series of teaching on mental health and proactively investing resources for people who are in need within their own congregations, to be able to combine these two things together.
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: that, yes, there is our spiritual side, but there's also our physical side, there is our mental side, and even Scripture says that we are body, soul and spirit Right Trichotomous version of man.
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: so it's not like just spirit or just body or just soul, soul being the mind, will and emotions.
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: I love that whole perspective of how they're coming together.
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: Bill, you've probably seen a shift.
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: I mean, you're working directly with the ministry here, so talk about your perspective on that.
• 33:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know.
• 33:05
  Speaker 3: Look, i tell you like 50 years next year.
• 33:07
  Speaker 3: How many times can I say that?
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: Until it becomes 51.
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right.
• 33:15
  Speaker 3: So you know, i think, as a profession psychiatry, even medicine, if you go back that far in psychology and now public mental health, which you know really started in the 1700s, and we had to define ourselves.
• 33:32
  Speaker 3: So I think there was a conscious time in our period where we set ourselves aside to make ourselves distinct, to get noticed, to define ourselves, and part of that was exclusionary, you know.
• 33:44
  Speaker 3: So I think that people looking outside physicians, the clergy, educators, you know other kinds of public servants saw that public mental health and even private mental health were defining themselves, and particularly post-World War II, when a lot of actually amazing drugs were invented to help people deal with what we called shell shock and now we call trauma and other kinds of mental illness.
• 34:09
  Speaker 3: So we were defining ourselves as a young profession.
• 34:12
  Speaker 3: Now we've gotten that done.
• 34:15
  Speaker 3: Partly we made a mistake because we did that to the exclusion of other helpers, trying to be unique and important and all of that, and I think we've earned our place.
• 34:23
  Speaker 3: And but now we do that through integration, through whole person care, and you know, mind, body and soul, integrated care is really a very important thing, and so you know.
• 34:35
  Speaker 3: In fact, you know, when I started there was a whole conversation about humanism.
• 34:41
  Speaker 3: You know, secular humanism and how you know, that was, you know, against the church and against faith beliefs, And now you don't hear that as much anymore because, as mental health and addiction professionals, we acknowledge and I have to speak for myself, I can't speak for every provider, but I think a lot of us acknowledge that there's a whole person there, a mind, a body and a soul And we need to be at the table with other public servants, with church and clergy and people who you know follow the spiritual path.
• 35:12
  Speaker 3: That is where our strength is in seeing and being a part of it.
• 35:17
  Speaker 3: Integrated care, not setting ourselves apart Like we did probably in the 50s and 60s, to kind of define ourselves, and then it lingered into the 70s, 80s and 90s.
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: Some of that did.
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: And here we're coming around, we've got ways to go.
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: But imagine yourself if you're struggling from whatever form of mental illness Maybe it's depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and you go to a place of worship and they try to tell you you're just crazy and you need to get over it and just have God.
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: Or, on the converse of that, you ended up in an institution and you're a spiritual person who is wanting some help with the Lord and we don't deal with that here And so now you don't have a place to go.
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: And so how unfortunate that and I saw it so many times is that even in some chaplaincy programs within the institutions I worked in, they really didn't want to recognize the spiritual, and one I worked in they did away with the chaplain program because they said it was counterproductive to the people who were in institution And some people in those institutions for years and had no spiritual.
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: But we've seen the fallacy in that.
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: We've seen that that division is not okay, it's.
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: We are a composite person.
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: And then not only to provide those services but network our services together to be able to say what's the best of everything and work together.
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: That's right And so, yeah, we've got a ways to go.
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: But we certainly have seen that happen here, and and it's great.
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: So Bill Vallejo started a homeless outreach program Many, many years ago.
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: We began to work with with Vallejo before it was called Vallejo at that time And to speak of rescue mission.
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: Eventually I think maybe 12 years ago now, 13 years ago we then started one as well, started working together, and then the pandemic came and we saw more homeless and smaller shelter to pick a rescue mission, on and on and on.
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: And so we had this idea Why don't we take the services that we have to pick a rescue mission and Vallejo and let's go out into the streets and unfold them?
• 37:29
  Speaker 3: unfold them, take the lid off.
• 37:30
  Speaker 3: Take that back to visibility go out there with this.
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: And so you and I had this conversation about a mobile shower, And I don't remember all the details.
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: But I said, Hey, Bill, do you think you can go find some funds for that?
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: And we said we'll give it a try.
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: And you did found a few And you got this.
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: And then we just miraculously had a donor that called us a few days later.
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: Maryam, you know, I've been trying to see if we could squeeze out some federal dollars.
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: Exactly.
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: And the answer was no.
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: And then, a day or two later, i get a call that somebody said they want to invest in something that's unique and different, and so it developed into the mobile kitchen Yes, and then a truck to pull it, which was kind of cool, absolutely.
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: And then a mobile resource supply trailer.
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: That.
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: Another company, another company, that's right.
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: A whole different one, absolutely.
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: And then and then you need a truck for that, yeah, so a church got on board with that.
• 38:19
  Speaker 2: And then we had Stormont Vale come along and they were developing a mobile medical clinic.
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: And then Kansas State University, through a relationship with Dr Allison Crowe of Veterinarian here, who is in charge of Street Dog Coalition, which reaches out to the unsheltered, that started working with the layoffs first.
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: So we all started working together and we started going out to the homeless in this thing called Mobile Access Partnership today, yeah, bill, tell us what you think about that thing.
• 38:46
  Speaker 3: So let's give credit where credit is due.
• 38:49
  Speaker 3: you know and and we do spend a lot of time on the street, mental health staff with, with your folks and to pick a rescue mission, tpd and others our first responders But the generation of the idea to make a shower available to people I started.
• 39:06
  Speaker 3: at the rescue mission, a couple of your team were standing around thinking about how could we get like a flatbed and maybe build some showers and how will we do the hot water and this, this.
• 39:15
  Speaker 3: and then, bill, let me, let me go, cause it even started more primitive than that.
• 39:19
  Speaker 2: It was called a buffalo shower And it was going to be to take.
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: I had a story to take a tarp and kind of a membrane of water and let it heat up by the sun, and then it just comes down and you could do it in a church parking lot or whatever, and our staff were so excited about the buffalo shower that somebody could walk into off the streets and get this.
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: And then I had this crazy, stupid question Do we have any issues with health and environment in regards to the wastewater going down in the sewer?
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: And we checked on that in the city said, no, you can't do that.
• 39:50
  Speaker 3: And I do recall it was really hot summer right over here east of the of the men's shelter And and we had a number of people were living on the river at that time and and still do, but I think population there grew to about 120 or 130 people and we were concerned about sanitation and health, and so I know that the rescue mission, shawnee County Health Department and and others, vallejo, you know we brought in porta potties and hand washing stations and we started We I remember we had a place to hand out supplies to people.
• 40:25
  Speaker 3: So you know there's a map.
• 40:27
  Speaker 3: Map has a good history of some ideas that we started and things start small and it's built into the mobile access partnership operates two days a week and at various sites.
• 40:36
  Speaker 3: It's just another way to getting people's way.
• 40:38
  Speaker 3: If you're unsheltered, if you're precariously housed, if you look like you need help and you walk up, you know there we are in your way, you know you almost metaphorically kind of stumble and trip on us and we're there to catch you and help you and just a, just a great unique program we operate together with.
• 40:58
  Speaker 3: Again, we couldn't do that alone.
• 41:00
  Speaker 3: I want to give credit to the Kansas Housing Resources Corporation downtown Topeka provided the funding for that shower trailer and a truck to haul it around and supplies and repairs and a lot of other things.
• 41:13
  Speaker 3: So you know, ryan Vincent and Doug Wallace and some of the other crew there at the Kansas Housing Resources Corporation, really Now we haven't any of us really had funding for staff.
• 41:23
  Speaker 3: We kind of do that on a wing and a prayer and probably bad administrators because we don't have staff.
• 41:28
  Speaker 3: But you know you, sometimes you have to do.
• 41:31
  Speaker 3: you just do the right thing because it is the right thing to do and this mobile access partnership so unique.
• 41:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, maryam, you have seen through the reports and the value of this.
• 41:42
  Speaker 2: Yes, there's been hundreds of people, actually thousands of services, given out since this has been in play for about two years now.
• 41:52
  Speaker 2: Yes, but you've also been aware and you were part of working with some folks out of Seattle that came here to actually be a part of this Right, talk about that experience.
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: That was about a year and a half ago.
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: They were just so floored by it, right, i mean that we were able to do that and the benefit that it was providing.
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: They were just very moved because it's such a compassionate thing to do.
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: It's about recognizing what the needs are and they were, honestly, they were amazed at for the size of organization we are.
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: They were stunned by the partnerships we have.
• 42:27
  Speaker 2: That was the biggest thing they took away from us, absolutely.
• 42:29
  Speaker 2: How do you do that?
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: They said Yeah, how do you?
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: do that.
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: How do you work across boundaries like that It's algebraic It is.
• 42:37
  Speaker 3: One grows on the other, absolutely.
• 42:39
  Speaker 3: They have a bigger thing than the components of the part.
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: Right, And I think that the thing that stunned them the most is that there wasn't this battleground being set Right.
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: Everyone was just willing to share in the credit of having this all be together.
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: It wasn't important for TRM to say this is ours or for Vallejo to say this is ours.
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: We were all just saying this is what we are doing, And when we talk about MAP, when we are saying we, we actually do mean we.
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: We don't mean just one single organization.
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: It really is all about the partnership, Which is amazing.
• 43:15
  Speaker 3: You know, another step along the way was the Blue Ambulance that had our five logos on it Yeah, it's called Vallejo and Health Department and Rescue Mission.
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 43:23
  Speaker 3: And offering supplies and help out of the Blue Ambulance And that grew again to something.
• 43:28
  Speaker 3: Absolutely It was part of.
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: MAP, but I think and I think we would be remiss, though, if we didn't talk also about the fact that we could not be doing MAP without the volunteers- So, you know, there are staff and there is all of us doing our thing and we have had donors help us so that we can have the equipment.
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: But MAP could not be MAP if it wasn't for the volunteers that come every single Tuesday and Thursday in the morning and in the afternoon, and I think that goes.
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: That has benefit beyond just helping the people that we're serving, right, helping the folks that come up.
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: I think it's also helping educate the community on the folks we serve, on mental health issues, on the situations of people experiencing homelessness.
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: I think it allows people to give back in ways that they may not have ever imagined And it brings a level of knowledge and sympathy that can only be helpful as we try to address an issue that seems to continue to grow, which is people who are experiencing homelessness.
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: And I think it's been incredibly valuable in helping the church be the church which is getting outside of the four walls and really being the hands and feet of Christ, with people that are so incredibly vulnerable but that are still children of God.
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: And so I think I don't know that we could ever ever measure the value that MAP has brought to this community.
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: We can do all the numbers We can say we've done this many showers and this many meals and this many mental health checks and this many assessment.
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: That is just the surface, the depth of what happens because of relationships being built amongst all of us who are service providers, between us and our volunteers, between all of us and the folks that are struggling the most, those folks who are our neighbors.
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: I think we will never, ever be able to measure the value of that to our community.
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: I think that really says it very well and people will ask oftentimes so what is the purpose?
• 45:40
  Speaker 2: Well, purpose is practical.
• 45:42
  Speaker 2: I mean, if you haven't had a shower for a very long time, sometimes you don't know how bad you smell until you get cleaned up, and so that's a beginning of a turning for some people.
• 45:51
  Speaker 2: There was one guy that had overdosed and he'd been about, i think, three weeks without a shower, had messed all over his clothes and thrown up and everything, and he came out of the shower and somebody said you look like a new man.
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: And he said you have no idea.
• 46:04
  Speaker 2: And he said this is this.
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: I feel like a new man because he had not had an opportunity to clean up.
• 46:12
  Speaker 2: But beyond the practical, it is relational, and you mentioned that.
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: It's relational between us as organizations, the volunteers.
• 46:19
  Speaker 2: But people say, well, does it fix anything?
• 46:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it fixes.
• 46:24
  Speaker 2: That person needs a shower today, but does it solve their homelessness?
• 46:27
  Speaker 2: No, but is it a very important step to relationship and trust building?
• 46:32
  Speaker 2: that now what we can do, rather than just have an outreach to a homeless camp or just have an outreach inside of a homeless shelter, now we have that in between to be able to help people in that transition of trust which many people don't trust, who are unsheltered for lots of different reasons.
• 46:48
  Speaker 2: Now we can build up that trust and we get to know them by name, they get to know us looking forward to seeing you on a Tuesday, looking forward to seeing you on Thursday, and what we've seen now is some people now are moving into shelter, moving into treatment with Vallejo, moving into housing.
• 47:03
  Speaker 2: That never before, probably would have ever we would consider is a possibility.
• 47:07
  Speaker 2: And so what's it doing?
• 47:08
  Speaker 2: It's taken the long haul to be able to develop some very important relationships with people who need us to be there for the long haul.
• 47:16
  Speaker 3: Right And to you know, move homelessness from being from those individuals being invisible.
• 47:23
  Speaker 2: I mean we see them.
• 47:25
  Speaker 3: but do we see them?
• 47:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we see who they are.
• 47:27
  Speaker 3: we know their pain And our public policy makers city, county, state picking up on that and you know developing leadership positions city manager Wade and Mayor Padilla in particular and others, and you know chief wheelers and others.
• 47:41
  Speaker 3: You know if we have made I think together, all of us the invisible visible.
• 47:48
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 47:49
  Speaker 3: And that's a good thing.
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 47:50
  Speaker 2: No, it really is.
• 47:51
  Speaker 2: Some people don't like it, they don't want to see it.
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: But I'm sorry We're not going back to the big C word or the big H word.
• 47:59
  Speaker 2: No, it's here.
• 48:00
  Speaker 2: We can do something proactive about it, just like we've talked about mental health interventions today.
• 48:06
  Speaker 2: We've talked about relationships between agencies.
• 48:08
  Speaker 2: We talked about the psychology or the psychiatric approach and the spiritual approach and how they can actually come together To me.
• 48:17
  Speaker 2: I really believe this is really revealing the true heart of God to be able to do this together to love our neighbors, to love our agencies.
• 48:26
  Speaker 2: We're celebrating United Way Day.
• 48:28
  Speaker 2: This is the Pico Rescue Mission, celebrating Vallejo with us and celebrating all those people that come together to be able to be there for our neighbors who, when Christ was asked what is the greatest commandment, he said well, it's pretty simple Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul and mind.
• 48:45
  Speaker 2: Hey, you put the mind one in there, didn't you?
• 48:48
  Speaker 2: So your heart, your soul and your mind, and the second one is like the first one Love your neighbor as yourself.
• 48:55
  Speaker 2: That's not rocket science, no.
• 48:57
  Speaker 2: And so to demonstrate that the way we're doing that is pleasing God, we know that, and so we see him blessing this and relationships are really forming.
• 49:06
  Speaker 3: Well, you see it, if you roll up on a map site in the Tuesday or Thursday in Shawnee County and you, what you're going to see is a one-stop shop partnered by representatives from the faith community, the rescue mission, nonprofits like the rescue mission and Vallejo.
• 49:29
  Speaker 3: Even though we're not a faith-based provider, we have those essential partnerships and government And we have had several commercial businesses support us, like you know, people who need clean clothes and things like that.
• 49:40
  Speaker 3: Hygienic cleaners and others have stepped up.
• 49:42
  Speaker 3: So you know that's.
• 49:44
  Speaker 3: You roll up and you see five or six huge mobile units, showers, etc.
• 49:49
  Speaker 3: Etc.
• 49:49
  Speaker 3: Food trailers, hot food trailers, you know, and over the winter, our partners at Salvation Army.
• 49:55
  Speaker 3: You see a faith-based government and nonprofit agencies working together and doing that without some big budget.
• 50:04
  Speaker 3: I mean we could use a budget.
• 50:06
  Speaker 3: Actually It's easy to have an expense budget, hard to have a revenue budget.
• 50:10
  Speaker 3: So you know, please reach out and help the rescue mission and others.
• 50:13
  Speaker 3: But that really puts, you know, faith and nonprofit and government working together every week.
• 50:20
  Speaker 3: It really does And that's what manifests itself.
• 50:24
  Speaker 2: Bill Persinger, ceo of Vallejo, a great friend, great partner of Topeka Rescue Mission and so many others in this community.
• 50:30
  Speaker 2: You are a great ambassador for those who are struggling with mental health challenges and just a great ambassador for how we can do it better together.
• 50:37
  Speaker 2: So thank you again for being with us here today and looking forward to seeing you over here more.
• 50:44
  Speaker 2: We kind of kid around about putting him in office, i know, i know.
• 50:47
  Speaker 2: So thank you for listening to our community, our mission.
• 50:51
  Speaker 2: You've heard from Bill Persinger, who's the CEO of Vallejo Behavioral Healthcare in Topeka, talking about mental health concerns, talking about some history of how we are coming together, i think, honoring God in the way that we're doing this to help our neighbors, because God has told us to love them, because He loves them, and so thank you for being a listener and a supporter.
• 51:12
  Speaker 2: If you'd like to know more about Topeka Rescue Mission, you can go to trmonlineorg.
• 51:17
  Speaker 2: If you'd like to help promote our community, our mission, you can subscribe, rate or share.
• 51:22
  Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to Our Community, our Mission.