Several Baptist Memorial hospitals across Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee and Baptist Health Sciences University united for a light display to inspire hope at 6:30 p.m. on World Mental Health Day, Saturday, Oct. 10.
Team members, patients and community members helped shine a light to help raise awareness of mental health issues and stigmas in the community and increase access to resources.
Canopy Children’s Solutions – a Jackson, Mississippi-based, non-profit that provides solutions for autism, behavioral and mental health issues, adoption and foster care – created Illuminate Hope to encourage people to have meaningful conversations around mental health and wellness. The event culminates with a paper lantern release symbolizing hope for the community. Baptist Memorial Health Care sponsored this year’s Illuminate Hope event.
The World Health Organization estimates close to 1 billion people are living with a mental disorder, and Mental Health America says 46% of Americans will meet the criteria for a diagnosable mental health condition sometime in their life. Half of those people will develop conditions by the age of 14.
Baptist Memorial Health Care offers a number of free mental health services, including free grief counseling through Baptist Centers for Good Grief, the CONCERN employee assistance program, and individual and couples counseling for parents through Universal Parenting Place. Also, several Baptist Memorial hospitals offer behavioral health services.
Click here to learn more about Illuminate Hope.
