Latest / Community D.C. / Community DC Ann Mazur EveryMind Final for March 2026

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Community DC Ann Mazur EveryMind Final for March 2026 · Community D.C.

0:10
Speaker 1: Good morning, and welcome to another edition of Community DC.
0:12
Speaker 1: I'm your host Dennis Glasgow. This morning, we welcome back
0:15
Speaker 1: to our program, Anne Maser. She is the CEO for
0:18
Speaker 1: every Mind, which is a Maryland based nonprofit that provides
0:21
Speaker 1: comprehensive mental health services, including twenty four to seven crisis
0:25
Speaker 1: prevention with a nine to eight eight hotline counseling, school
0:28
Speaker 1: based mental health programs, veterans support, and housing assistance. Here's
0:32
Speaker 1: my visit with Ann. I hope you enjoy it as
0:34
Speaker 1: much as I did. Good morning, Anne, Good morning.
0:37
Speaker 2: How are you doing. Dennis.
0:38
Speaker 1: I'm great. It's great to have you back on the
0:39
Speaker 1: program to talk about every Mind, and I'd like to
0:42
Speaker 1: do this if you could for us. I know that
0:44
Speaker 1: it's a twenty year anniversary for you, so congratulations. I
0:47
Speaker 1: think that is wonderful. Two decades at any place, it's huge,
0:50
Speaker 1: especially the kind of world that we live in, especially
0:53
Speaker 1: nonprofits too. But if you could do me a favor
0:55
Speaker 1: for our listeners. It didn't get a chance to catch
0:57
Speaker 1: you last time about every Mind. Can you tell us
0:59
Speaker 1: first of all about the history, about the origin story,
1:02
Speaker 1: how was invented, where it came from.
1:05
Speaker 3: Absolutely, so every Mind was founded in nineteen fifty seven,
1:11
Speaker 3: so we're approaching our seventieth year.
1:15
Speaker 2: Originally until twenty sixteen.
1:17
Speaker 3: We actually changed our name to every Mind in twenty sixteen,
1:20
Speaker 3: but prior to that, the organization was the Mental Health.
1:23
Speaker 2: Association of Montgomery County.
1:26
Speaker 3: And so really start when the work started back in
1:30
Speaker 3: nineteen fifty seven, it was really moving from hospitalization and
1:37
Speaker 3: that error with mental health to really community gates services
1:41
Speaker 3: and services provided on the prevention side.
1:44
Speaker 2: And in communities.
1:46
Speaker 3: And that's really when the organization started and the basis
1:50
Speaker 3: of the work, and it's still the basis of our
1:52
Speaker 3: work today, almost seventy years later.
1:54
Speaker 1: We have a lot of ground to cover talking about
1:56
Speaker 1: all the incredible programs you have upcoming event. I know
1:59
Speaker 1: there's a real big one on May tenth that we
2:01
Speaker 1: want to talk about, but I'd like for you to
2:03
Speaker 1: do this for me and our listeners to give some context.
2:06
Speaker 1: As I mentioned, you've been with every Mind for twenty
2:08
Speaker 1: years now, and I have a twenty three year old
2:11
Speaker 1: daughter who I've talked about on the show before, that's
2:13
Speaker 1: filmmaker in New York Generation Z. So as a parent
2:16
Speaker 1: from the seventies, a latch key kid, I just was
2:19
Speaker 1: putting dirt on it and moving forward. That's kind of
2:22
Speaker 1: an analogy I use. Right, there just wasn't mental health
2:25
Speaker 1: and wellness and therapist, and it wasn't talked about it.
2:27
Speaker 1: It wasn't even known about back then. But I have
2:30
Speaker 1: learned being a parent with Generation Z that everything that
2:33
Speaker 1: the game has changed completely. And I'm curious for when
2:36
Speaker 1: you started twenty years ago and where mental health was
2:39
Speaker 1: talked about or not to where it is today. Can
2:42
Speaker 1: you kind of give us a scope about how it
2:44
Speaker 1: does change over the last two decades and how we
2:46
Speaker 1: talk about it generally as a public and how every
2:48
Speaker 1: mind handles it.
2:51
Speaker 3: Absolutely, and I think we've seen a substantial change over
2:56
Speaker 3: the last one years, certainly that I've been in this work,
2:59
Speaker 3: and for the congratulations on the anniversary, it's a big milestone.
3:05
Speaker 3: I think we've made a lot of progress around stigma
3:08
Speaker 3: reduction around mental health. If I think about even maybe six, seven,
3:14
Speaker 3: eight years ago, just prior to the pandemic, I think
3:18
Speaker 3: we were still in a place where a lot of
3:20
Speaker 3: people were did you want to talk about? Yeah? Right,
3:25
Speaker 3: the stigma reduction is definitely they are didn't want to share.
3:29
Speaker 3: So for us, stigma reduction and what we say to everyone,
3:33
Speaker 3: you know, talking about it right, getting into conversation about
3:37
Speaker 3: it is what's important. It de stigmatizes for everyone, and
3:42
Speaker 3: not being afraid to ask questions, really dig in with
3:46
Speaker 3: someone of how they're doing, not to be afraid to
3:49
Speaker 3: say the words suicide. People sometimes are concerned when you
3:54
Speaker 3: talk about crisis services saying that word, Thinking that word
3:57
Speaker 3: gives someone an idea. You know, the data proves absolutely
4:02
Speaker 3: that you're talking about mental health services, talking about suicide.
4:06
Speaker 3: Any of these things don't give people ideas. It's really
4:11
Speaker 3: about having that conversation and like you said, with your daughter,
4:14
Speaker 3: whether it's with you know, a child, your colleagues, friends,
4:19
Speaker 3: but just asking people how they're doing and really listening
4:23
Speaker 3: and then being there to support the person no matter
4:26
Speaker 3: what they say they're going through you and any help
4:29
Speaker 3: that they might need.
4:30
Speaker 1: One of the things that's been fortuitous for me and
4:33
Speaker 1: in this program and all the nonprofits that I get
4:35
Speaker 1: to talk to on a weekly basis. I've talked to
4:37
Speaker 1: a lot of veteran nonprofits and other of the deal
4:40
Speaker 1: with mental health and including the AFSP in town, and
4:45
Speaker 1: what I have learned is that when it comes to
4:47
Speaker 1: mental wellness and the health It doesn't discriminate any age,
4:52
Speaker 1: even though we talk about Generation Z and how they
4:54
Speaker 1: brought to the forefront. And also say this too, in
4:57
Speaker 1: my thirty years of being in sports and entertainment, that
5:01
Speaker 1: when it starts to get normalized whatever we're talking about,
5:03
Speaker 1: when celebrities and athletes and people are prominent start talking
5:07
Speaker 1: about mental health and wellness and put it in the
5:09
Speaker 1: spotlight to normalize it, that's better for all of us.
5:12
Speaker 1: It certainly is better for you, isn't it.
5:15
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
5:16
Speaker 3: I was thinking about this because I'm a fan of
5:20
Speaker 3: the Olympics, and me too spent a good bit of
5:24
Speaker 3: time watching the Olympics, and you know, over the you know,
5:28
Speaker 3: the past decade, I think we absolutely had seen that
5:31
Speaker 3: at some syts and when it came up playing sports,
5:34
Speaker 3: but we've seen at these recent Olympics, and I'd just
5:38
Speaker 3: said the last decade of athletes really coming out and
5:41
Speaker 3: talking about the importance of mental health, some of them
5:45
Speaker 3: really stepping up and you know, picking that on as
5:48
Speaker 3: a platform. But that's importance of that and their mental
5:53
Speaker 3: well being, especially you know, in their training there being
5:57
Speaker 3: elite athletes, the pressure being anxiety, all of those things
6:02
Speaker 3: and we saw that play out in these Olympics, and
6:05
Speaker 3: I think that individuals talking about that is really important.
6:11
Speaker 1: Agreed, Well, let's do this. I want to give kind
6:13
Speaker 1: of a thirty thousand foot view to everybody about every
6:16
Speaker 1: Mind and what exactly you do. So if you were
6:18
Speaker 1: to tell our listening audience about what every Mind does,
6:20
Speaker 1: what would you say?
6:23
Speaker 3: I would say that we are a community based organization
6:27
Speaker 3: that provides mental health support across a continuous care so
6:32
Speaker 3: for early intervention all the way through crisis services, and
6:36
Speaker 3: for individuals across the age stand from youth all the
6:41
Speaker 3: way to older adults. Some of our core program areas
6:45
Speaker 3: are we are a provider and a call center for
6:48
Speaker 3: the National Suicide Lifeline ninety eight eight. We provide care
6:54
Speaker 3: ordination for individuals to access what we call social determinants.
7:00
Speaker 3: And really we're talking about housing and food and education
7:03
Speaker 3: and support, right because that all impacts mental health, as
7:06
Speaker 3: well as education around stigma reduction and talking about mental
7:12
Speaker 3: health services and also counseling in therapy services.
7:17
Speaker 1: So I think we have everybody's attention because I think
7:19
Speaker 1: somebody either personally in their family, their friend group, or
7:22
Speaker 1: coworker has seen or heard or experienced a mental wellness issue.
7:27
Speaker 1: With that said, when it comes to criteria about all
7:30
Speaker 1: you do with your programs, can anybody reach out to you?
7:33
Speaker 1: But also how do you reach out to people as
7:35
Speaker 1: well besides being on a program like this?
7:40
Speaker 2: Depending on the programs.
7:41
Speaker 3: So some of our things that everyone that is listening
7:45
Speaker 3: and access is nine eight eight and ninety eight. I
7:50
Speaker 3: want to spend a few minutes to talk about that.
7:52
Speaker 3: It is the National Suicide Lifeline, but really the major piece,
7:58
Speaker 3: about ninety eight percent of the calls that we receive
8:02
Speaker 3: are for supportive listening, and that is through phone, through call, text,
8:08
Speaker 3: and chat. Anyone can reach out to nine eight eight.
8:12
Speaker 3: And when I say you know it's supportive listening, ninety
8:16
Speaker 3: eight percent of our callers or texters or chatters at
8:20
Speaker 3: the end of that engagement, they feel that the reason
8:23
Speaker 3: they call that they've received resolution, they know what next
8:27
Speaker 3: steps they're going to take, and they feel better about,
8:31
Speaker 3: you know, how they were feeling before they fall in.
8:33
Speaker 3: So it's one thing that I encourage everyone. You do
8:36
Speaker 3: not have to be in crisis to call. It's really
8:41
Speaker 3: and you also you can call for yourself, or you
8:44
Speaker 3: can call if you have a friend or a family
8:47
Speaker 3: member that is struggling that may not want to call themselves,
8:50
Speaker 3: or you want to have a conversation with that person,
8:54
Speaker 3: you can call nine eight eight and talk with urchin
8:57
Speaker 3: and they'll talk with you about, you know, what what.
9:00
Speaker 2: You should ask the person.
9:01
Speaker 3: You'll kind of follow up what kind of questions to
9:04
Speaker 3: ask so they can walk you through that, or you know,
9:08
Speaker 3: provide services directed.
9:09
Speaker 1: And if I would like to mention too, and you
9:11
Speaker 1: could talk about this a little bit more. These are
9:13
Speaker 1: people that are trained. When you call them, you can
9:15
Speaker 1: be anonymous if you want, but it's twenty four to
9:18
Speaker 1: seven three sixty five, always available, and these are trained
9:21
Speaker 1: people that really know how to listen and just talk
9:23
Speaker 1: with people that are struggling right an.
9:27
Speaker 3: Absolutely twenty four to seven three hundred and sixty five
9:30
Speaker 3: days a year and they are trained. There is extensive
9:35
Speaker 3: training and it really is about listening and you know,
9:40
Speaker 3: helping support that person of how they can take, you know,
9:44
Speaker 3: a next step.
9:44
Speaker 1: So there are a lot of programs that you have
9:47
Speaker 1: and I want to tackle as many as we can
9:49
Speaker 1: in the thirty minutes. You know, you have counseling and mentorship,
9:53
Speaker 1: case management and care coordination and mental health education, and
9:57
Speaker 1: I know that's broken down in different buckets like the
10:00
Speaker 1: veteran and military families, school connected mental health you have
10:03
Speaker 1: talked about ninety eight, but there is education and community
10:06
Speaker 1: based counseling. Can you kind of break some of those
10:08
Speaker 1: down for us and including the homeless and housing support
10:10
Speaker 1: as well too.
10:12
Speaker 3: Absolutely, and so I think just touching on all of
10:16
Speaker 3: those different programs and initiatives again, right, mental health underlies
10:23
Speaker 3: everything that all of.
10:24
Speaker 2: Us are doing every day.
10:25
Speaker 3: So in all of that space, in particular youth services,
10:30
Speaker 3: which are school based services. We have teams that are
10:34
Speaker 3: in thirty schools and that's elementary, middle and high school
10:39
Speaker 3: in both Montgomery and.
10:40
Speaker 2: French Georgian's County.
10:42
Speaker 3: Both teams work with the students and in the school
10:46
Speaker 3: as well as their families. So therapy is provided for
10:53
Speaker 3: the youth and or the family member. Also case management
10:57
Speaker 3: and care management for the families. If they need access
10:59
Speaker 3: to resources, whether it be food or employment or other
11:05
Speaker 3: things like that, they connect them to service and also
11:09
Speaker 3: mentors in the school. The really important thing first to
11:14
Speaker 3: know about students and really every individual, the student or
11:19
Speaker 3: youth has one trusted adult in their life. It makes
11:25
Speaker 3: all the difference and so any one of us could
11:29
Speaker 3: be that person and you want to just make sure
11:33
Speaker 3: that you're available. You let that person know that you're available.
11:36
Speaker 3: But that mentorship can be very broad. That's some of
11:39
Speaker 3: the things that we cover in our education work that
11:44
Speaker 3: you mentioned. So we have community education that anyone similar
11:48
Speaker 3: to ninety eight, anyone listening that access these services. We
11:51
Speaker 3: provide free trainings for mental health first aid. Another training
11:57
Speaker 3: is called question, Persuade and refer. Both of those are
12:01
Speaker 3: really one giving an overview of mental health how we
12:06
Speaker 3: you as an individual can support yourself and support anyone
12:12
Speaker 3: that you know that might be struggling with mental health
12:16
Speaker 3: issue or anything like that. And so the trainings are
12:21
Speaker 3: also we also do trainings around stigma reduction. You mentioned
12:25
Speaker 3: you know, what's the change been in the last twenty years.
12:28
Speaker 3: Some of those trainings is really just awareness around ninet
12:33
Speaker 3: eighty eight is part of that training. What that is,
12:36
Speaker 3: what happens when you call, you know, the conversation is anonymous.
12:40
Speaker 3: All of those things that may questions that people have
12:44
Speaker 3: in the back of their mind of I don't think
12:46
Speaker 3: I need to, you know, go to a training, or
12:48
Speaker 3: I don't think I need to.
12:49
Speaker 2: Call nine eighty.
12:50
Speaker 3: But some of our community education is really just awareness
12:53
Speaker 3: around what the services are and what to expect if
12:57
Speaker 3: they access the services.
12:59
Speaker 1: You talked about that because I would like you to
13:02
Speaker 1: expound on this because over the twenty years of what
13:04
Speaker 1: you've seen and the ascension about people talking about mental health.
13:09
Speaker 1: And also we have to point out that your people
13:11
Speaker 1: are learning on the fly. This is a very fluid thing.
13:14
Speaker 1: So as we're talking more about it, new problems arise.
13:17
Speaker 1: That means you your people have to be educated about
13:20
Speaker 1: what you're learning, what you're talking about, and then how
13:23
Speaker 1: to deal with it. And that's a really big deal
13:24
Speaker 1: that this is a constant moving thing that's happening out there,
13:27
Speaker 1: not only in America, but worldwide. We could see it everywhere.
13:32
Speaker 3: Yes, you know, our world is changing every day.
13:38
Speaker 2: Right.
13:38
Speaker 3: So, and when we think about fear and the DC legion, right,
13:44
Speaker 3: we have a lot of friends and neighbors, family members
13:48
Speaker 3: we have that they have been employed with federal government
13:53
Speaker 3: or you know, certainly know someone that that was That's
13:57
Speaker 3: an example I've been saying right that shift the past year,
14:01
Speaker 3: there's been a lot of people that maybe we're never
14:05
Speaker 3: unemployed in the lifetime, right, that are now unemployed and
14:10
Speaker 3: they are now accessing services that they never thought they
14:14
Speaker 3: would need to access. And and that's just for them
14:18
Speaker 3: to stay houls or to you know, have food on
14:22
Speaker 3: their table. And obviously the impact on individuals mental health.
14:26
Speaker 3: So I think that that's a recent example that really
14:30
Speaker 3: has has come up. We you know, we see increases
14:32
Speaker 3: new people reaching out for support, you know, with mental
14:37
Speaker 3: health because all of those you know, unexpected changes and
14:42
Speaker 3: either people maybe that used to volunteer at an organization
14:45
Speaker 3: or donated in an organization and now they're actually seeking
14:49
Speaker 3: the services from that organization. So to your point, as
14:53
Speaker 3: things change, I mean we also see you know, if
14:56
Speaker 3: there's you know, you know where you know, we've just
15:01
Speaker 3: this this week, right, we have a large military population
15:05
Speaker 3: you know here in this region. Also we do provide
15:09
Speaker 3: services specifically for the military and veteran community and their families.
15:14
Speaker 3: But they have very unique needs. And if we think
15:17
Speaker 3: about the past five days and you know, the war
15:22
Speaker 3: in Iran, right, there's always changes, always new you know,
15:28
Speaker 3: things happening in the in the community or in individuals
15:32
Speaker 3: lives that it is constantly moving. And so our our
15:36
Speaker 3: team is you know, stays of rest of what's happening
15:39
Speaker 3: in our local community, for our national or international because
15:44
Speaker 3: it does impact and we will see, you know, different
15:47
Speaker 3: reasons that people might be reaching out for support based
15:50
Speaker 3: on what's going on in you know here in mont
15:53
Speaker 3: Governing County, here in the DC region, or you know international.
15:58
Speaker 1: Well, we're just past the halfway point and I think
16:00
Speaker 1: it's a good time to talk about advocation and also
16:04
Speaker 1: getting involved in donations and there's a wide range of
16:07
Speaker 1: things we can talk about, and before we will chat
16:09
Speaker 1: with all of our listeners about how they can get involved.
16:12
Speaker 1: I know that advocating is a really big deal for you,
16:15
Speaker 1: and whether it's boots on the ground with just one
16:17
Speaker 1: family or you're going to Capitol Hill, I love for
16:20
Speaker 1: you to talk about what you're doing right now and
16:23
Speaker 1: where you're at when it comes to every mind, because
16:24
Speaker 1: I know everybody wants a piece of the pie. It's
16:27
Speaker 1: harder and harder to get money out there, and we
16:29
Speaker 1: realize that when you're non profit. But as you advocate
16:32
Speaker 1: now for every mind, what does it look like for you?
16:36
Speaker 3: Absolutely, our focus right now is the Maryland General Assembly
16:43
Speaker 3: is in session, and so we know that there's a
16:47
Speaker 3: tight budget. You know, Aunty state at federal levels. Our
16:52
Speaker 3: advocacy right now is really around maintaining funding for youth
16:59
Speaker 3: mental health servi and schools across the State of Maryland.
17:04
Speaker 3: Currently there is one hundred million dollars in funding through
17:08
Speaker 3: the blueprint or mental health.
17:10
Speaker 2: Services across the state.
17:12
Speaker 3: The budget right now at the State of Maryland, so
17:15
Speaker 3: the governor presented has a twenty million dollar cut, so
17:19
Speaker 3: it's eighty million instead of one hundred million. So we
17:21
Speaker 3: have been very active providing testimony, attending rallies along with
17:29
Speaker 3: individuals that other nonprofits, community members, et cetera. And you're right,
17:34
Speaker 3: the pot is finite, right, And really when you talk
17:39
Speaker 3: about services by mental health, you know, having services available
17:46
Speaker 3: early on are much less costly than not providing services
17:51
Speaker 3: and then people end up having to use services like
17:55
Speaker 3: ninety one to one and emergency rooms and you know,
17:59
Speaker 3: more top sleave services.
18:01
Speaker 2: So our work really.
18:04
Speaker 3: Is on the early intervention and convention and that's where
18:08
Speaker 3: some of this lending is. And we think that it
18:12
Speaker 3: absolutely pays to invest money for services in early stages
18:19
Speaker 3: and also in prevention and avoiding people going to emergency rooms,
18:24
Speaker 3: which is so passive.
18:26
Speaker 1: All right, let's talk about donation when you go to
18:28
Speaker 1: every mind dot org and we'll give that again to
18:30
Speaker 1: you if you're not already there, there's a nice big
18:32
Speaker 1: donate button in the top right hand corner. And then
18:35
Speaker 1: when you get to get involved, there are many ways
18:37
Speaker 1: to donate, and I would love for you to talk
18:39
Speaker 1: about that, because as a person by yourself or a
18:42
Speaker 1: family or a medium or small business, I know you're
18:45
Speaker 1: taking everybody's donation. But there are many ways that people
18:48
Speaker 1: can apply for a scholarship. There's volunteering, and there is entering,
18:52
Speaker 1: but let's talk about donations first and all the ways
18:55
Speaker 1: that they can do that in.
18:57
Speaker 3: Yes, thank you for pointing that so Dennet's reminder or
19:01
Speaker 3: and individuals can donate in any method they choose. But
19:07
Speaker 3: you know with cash, check stocks, people can think about
19:13
Speaker 3: plan gifts and their will. All of those impact the
19:18
Speaker 3: organization being able to provide services.
19:21
Speaker 2: To more individuals.
19:22
Speaker 3: For us to be able to serve more, there is
19:25
Speaker 3: such a great need and there is a lack of
19:28
Speaker 3: services and a lack of providers being able to do that.
19:32
Speaker 3: One of the upcoming events we have that we are
19:37
Speaker 3: asking people to get involved, and there's so many different
19:39
Speaker 3: opportunities we have a five k on Sunday, Nate tenth
19:43
Speaker 3: in Rock Build and individuals can start a fundraiser and
19:49
Speaker 3: do peer to peer fundraising.
19:52
Speaker 2: They can decide to walk the.
19:54
Speaker 3: One kay or run or walk the five kay if
19:58
Speaker 3: they like, if they want to to participate in that way,
20:02
Speaker 3: and it's one where you can sign up to run,
20:05
Speaker 3: you can create a fundraiser, you can ask your friends
20:08
Speaker 3: to join you in the run or the walk, or
20:10
Speaker 3: to donate in your.
20:12
Speaker 2: Honor for you to compete in that.
20:14
Speaker 3: And also with the five day, there's opportunities for people
20:18
Speaker 3: to volunteers. We have you know, fourse marshals and people
20:23
Speaker 3: that are at the certain finish line and other things.
20:25
Speaker 3: And I will tell you it's a wonderful, wonderful community event.
20:29
Speaker 2: Last year we've had about five hundred people.
20:31
Speaker 3: And more expecting more this year where you can come
20:34
Speaker 3: together with your family and friends and there's you know
20:39
Speaker 3: music we actually had when you're colleagues from Ipart there
20:43
Speaker 3: last year helping to keep everyone going and the energy high.
20:48
Speaker 3: But it's a great opportunity to meet others in the
20:51
Speaker 3: in the community and also to support mental health in
20:55
Speaker 3: our community by donating or running or walking outside of
21:00
Speaker 3: that we also encourage volunteers. We have opportunities throughout the
21:05
Speaker 3: year for volunteers to join us and help with us.
21:09
Speaker 2: We stable at a lot.
21:11
Speaker 3: Of community events and that's an opportunity that volunteers are
21:16
Speaker 3: interested in doing that. You know, it's a brief training
21:19
Speaker 3: and going and that's really getting the word out about
21:23
Speaker 3: our services and stagling. We can then also anyone that's
21:28
Speaker 3: interested in advocacy. When I mentioned we were just at
21:31
Speaker 3: a rally and we've been to Annapolis frequently over the
21:35
Speaker 3: past month. But those rallies and other things, they're open
21:39
Speaker 3: for individuals that want to get involved and you know,
21:43
Speaker 3: to join in the conversation and join us in some
21:47
Speaker 3: of those activities. So there's really something for everyone for
21:52
Speaker 3: them to be able to get involved. The other thing
21:55
Speaker 3: is we actually have on our website a fool kit
22:00
Speaker 3: that we put together around mental health and services and
22:04
Speaker 3: how to talk with people, et cetera. And so that's
22:07
Speaker 3: something that people didn't take a look at and share with,
22:11
Speaker 3: you know, their friends and families and just getting that,
22:13
Speaker 3: you know, sharing that is a way to support so
22:18
Speaker 3: many people in our community.
22:19
Speaker 1: Well, it's a lovely website and if I may you
22:21
Speaker 1: and your team have also done a good job. You
22:23
Speaker 1: spoke about events. All the military events that are going
22:27
Speaker 1: on all the time every week are all there, and
22:29
Speaker 1: there's a lot aren't there too, which is really cool.
22:31
Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, absolutely our military that are and there are
22:36
Speaker 3: so many for being touch and our calendar is there
22:40
Speaker 3: on the website at everymind dot org. And there are
22:45
Speaker 3: you know, monthly collaboratives where veterans come together. There's also
22:51
Speaker 3: some an insuative specifically for women veterans. That's a group
22:57
Speaker 3: that really likes to come together. They have month events
23:00
Speaker 3: and they're across the region. Those services are across the
23:03
Speaker 3: state of Maryland, DC and Northern Virginia. Some are virtual,
23:07
Speaker 3: some are in person. Also within with our veterans in
23:12
Speaker 3: that community called a lot of claims clinics in collaboration
23:17
Speaker 3: with the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Labor.
23:22
Speaker 2: We just told one here at our office.
23:24
Speaker 3: In Rockville last month, and they're really like every every
23:29
Speaker 3: other month, and it's an opportunity for veterans to go
23:33
Speaker 3: and make sure that they are receiving the benefits that
23:36
Speaker 3: they are entitled to. And so it's everyone is there
23:40
Speaker 3: in one place and they can, you know, get all
23:42
Speaker 3: of their information and apply for benefits that they might
23:47
Speaker 3: be entitled to.
23:49
Speaker 1: Outstanding and if you could indulge me just for a moment,
23:51
Speaker 1: I think this is one of my favorite things I'd
23:53
Speaker 1: like to ask. And when listeners get back to me
23:56
Speaker 1: about whatever nonprofit they talk to, they need context sometimes
24:00
Speaker 1: to what exactly you guys do. And you've talked about
24:03
Speaker 1: that at the thirty thousand foot of You. We talked
24:05
Speaker 1: about the programs, but I always like to talk to
24:07
Speaker 1: the person in charge about a great story that they
24:10
Speaker 1: know about.
24:10
Speaker 2: Now.
24:10
Speaker 1: I know, as CEO, you've got a great team there
24:13
Speaker 1: and you don't get to talk to every family and
24:15
Speaker 1: every person that you work with, but I'm sure that
24:18
Speaker 1: the word has gotten up to you about something that
24:20
Speaker 1: incredible that happened that either your team was a part
24:22
Speaker 1: of or word got to them about how Every Mind
24:25
Speaker 1: got a part of this person, of this family's life.
24:27
Speaker 1: Is there a story maybe since we last talked to you,
24:30
Speaker 1: it's something special that happened that you can share with
24:32
Speaker 1: our audience. Where was kind of that make a difference
24:34
Speaker 1: and why we get up every morning at Every Mind?
24:38
Speaker 3: Absolutely, I'll share a story our school based services. And
24:48
Speaker 3: you know, we recently had a student who is really
24:51
Speaker 3: struggling with attendance at school because they were struggling with depression.
24:59
Speaker 3: And we have a member of our team that the
25:05
Speaker 3: cementoring and so with the mentorship and the family support specialists,
25:11
Speaker 3: they've worked with the student really talked about you know,
25:15
Speaker 3: their daily routine, you know, participating in school, coming to school,
25:20
Speaker 3: and we know that social connection is so important and
25:27
Speaker 3: absenteeism is actually with our with our youth, one of
25:31
Speaker 3: the biggest concerns and issue. We've seen a rise in
25:36
Speaker 3: absenteeism over the years and certainly since the pandemic one,
25:43
Speaker 3: you know, the academic piece, but really that socialization fiece
25:47
Speaker 3: getting there and getting to school. This student, after working
25:51
Speaker 3: with our mentor, is now regularly attending, interested in going
25:57
Speaker 3: to school, excited about going to school and doing better
26:02
Speaker 3: both skillfully and academically. And it really is you know,
26:07
Speaker 3: individual by individual, and you know, again for them, it
26:11
Speaker 3: was working with our mentor. It could be like I said,
26:15
Speaker 3: someone else, and you know that helped support that students
26:19
Speaker 3: and really get them, you know, feeling better around their
26:23
Speaker 3: struggles and also taking that step, you know, just taking
26:27
Speaker 3: that step and coming into school and then you know,
26:29
Speaker 3: if you come in every day that week and then right,
26:32
Speaker 3: we know that things become a habit and should be
26:34
Speaker 3: support around the student, around the family, and then also
26:40
Speaker 3: working with the school administration and the teachers. So our teams,
26:44
Speaker 3: their offices are in the school, they're a part of
26:47
Speaker 3: the fabric of the school and there for the student
26:52
Speaker 3: and the family, you know, for you know, evening activities,
26:56
Speaker 3: all of those things, so that that social connection, and
27:00
Speaker 3: it's just so important. And individuals especially are students, you know,
27:06
Speaker 3: they can't succeed academically, they aren't first, you know, socially connected.
27:13
Speaker 1: And yeah, well it's a great story and I'm glad
27:16
Speaker 1: you shared it. And I think the one last thought
27:18
Speaker 1: that I would have for you about that specifically is
27:21
Speaker 1: the teachers and administrations and schools and even parents can
27:25
Speaker 1: only do so much in the busy world that we
27:27
Speaker 1: live in. So they must be so thankful that everyone
27:30
Speaker 1: could step in and fill in some of those gaps.
27:32
Speaker 1: And you probably get that kind of great feedback to I.
27:34
Speaker 3: Imagine absolutely, you're right, you know, going back to you, right,
27:39
Speaker 3: it takes a village, right, and those wrap around services,
27:46
Speaker 3: as I would follow them, and you know, with the teachers,
27:50
Speaker 3: with the parents, with.
27:53
Speaker 2: And also with other nonprofits.
27:55
Speaker 3: I mean many of the schools that we're working in,
27:58
Speaker 3: there's also other non fits that are also working in
28:01
Speaker 3: those toools, and so we partner with nonprofits of Frost
28:07
Speaker 3: the region that are also working with the same families
28:11
Speaker 3: and ensuring that everyone gets connected to whatever.
28:15
Speaker 2: Service they need.
28:16
Speaker 1: I love that you do that.
28:17
Speaker 2: Well. Listen in.
28:17
Speaker 1: We have just a couple of minutes left. I just
28:19
Speaker 1: want to get some final thoughts from you. We'll give
28:21
Speaker 1: the website one more time and I want to make
28:24
Speaker 1: sure you talk about ninety eight one more time too,
28:26
Speaker 1: So in the two minutes we have, the floor is yours.
28:30
Speaker 2: Thank you appreciate that.
28:32
Speaker 3: Dennis, So I would encourage everyone listening that you can
28:37
Speaker 3: reach out to ninety eight eight anytime.
28:40
Speaker 2: It's twenty four to seven.
28:43
Speaker 3: It is for crisis intervention, absolutely, but more so for
28:49
Speaker 3: support of listening. If you or anyone that you know
28:53
Speaker 3: is struggling in any way, you can reach out. It's anonymous.
28:56
Speaker 3: You can have a conversation, get resources is get support
29:01
Speaker 3: in the moment to support yourself or any anyone that
29:05
Speaker 3: you know. In addition, we do have the five k
29:10
Speaker 3: coming up on May tenth. We hope and encourage anyone
29:14
Speaker 3: that's interested to participate, either by walking, running, volunteering, starting
29:21
Speaker 3: a fundraiser, or donating to join. It's really it's going
29:26
Speaker 3: to be. It's to support our work, and it's also.
29:30
Speaker 2: A great community event.
29:32
Speaker 3: May tenth is Mother's Day, and so we're actually welcoming
29:37
Speaker 3: everyone to come together, either if mom wants to take
29:40
Speaker 3: a break and come run a five k, or if
29:42
Speaker 3: the family wants to leave mom home and do that,
29:44
Speaker 3: or everyone comes together and then take mom for brunch
29:47
Speaker 3: or something else after the wonderful community event.
29:51
Speaker 1: Outstanding and it's great to see again, and thank you
29:53
Speaker 1: so much for coming on Community DC. Give my best,
29:55
Speaker 1: your entire team, and thank you so much for joining us.
29:58
Speaker 2: Thank you, Dennis, appreciate.
30:00
Speaker 1: Yeah,