Lakeland, FL – Peace River Center, a non-profit behavioral health and victim services organization that serves more than 22,000 individuals every year, is hosting virtual sessions during Mental Health Awareness Month.
“Now more than ever it’s important to talk about mental health, be aware of the resources, and share with our friends and loved ones who might be struggling,” said Ileana Kniss, Director of Development and Community Relations at Peace River Center (PRC). “We have transitioned our awareness events to virtual platforms and invite the community to join us for these meaningful conversations.”
The awareness activities and virtual sessions include:
• May 1 at 8:30 a.m. Virtual Chat with Mental Health Professionals: Four PRC professionals will discuss mental health, treatments, and services. Attendees can ask questions and will walk away with tools to thrive in this ever-changing world.
• May 6 Wear Green Day: Community members are encouraged to wear green and upload their photos to social media with the hashtag #Green4PRC to show their support of mental health and the organization.
• May 13 at 10:00 a.m. Depression and Anxiety in Children and Teens: Learn more about depression and anxiety in children and teens such as general symptoms, risk factors and what you can do to help a child or teen experiencing depression and anxiety.
• May 20 at 2:00 p.m. What is Mental Health Recovery? What does it mean to be in mental health recovery? Learn more about that and how to access resources in our community such as Club SUCCESS and Psychosocial Rehabilitation Services.
• May 28 at What is Community Behavioral Health? What is Community Behavioral Health and what does it mean to the community? Learn about Peace River Center’s wide array of services and resources provided to individuals living with mental illness, in recovery from substance use disorders and survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.
• May 29 at 10:00 a.m. Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) – An Evidence-Based Treatment: EMDR is recognized as one of the most effective forms of treating trauma. Learn more about what conditions it works for, how treatment works, what a typical session involves.
These virtual sessions are free to attend and those interested can visit https://www.peacerivercenter.org/mham-registration/ for details and to register. Attendees are encouraged to submit questions ahead of time, but they will also have a chance to ask the mental health experts their questions at the end of each session.
About Peace River Center
Peace River Center is a licensed and accredited, non-profit provider of mental health, substance use and integrated medical services serving Polk, Highlands and Hardee counties. Peace River Center provides options for people struggling with mental health and addiction, for children and adults coping with the trauma of abuse and violence, crisis intervention for people in acute need, and housing and community support and integration for people affected by domestic violence or whose recovery requires more support and time. Peace River Center offers inpatient, outpatient, home-, school- and community-based services, telehealth and mobile programs to individuals, groups and families. Peace River Center’s dedicated and compassionate staff of more than 400 operate 36 programs out of 27 locations and provide 24/7 emergency psychiatric response services to the community through our mobile psychiatric Crisis Response Team. In FY2019, Peace River Center had contact with and provided services to more than 22,000 children, adolescents, adults and seniors. For more information visit www.PeaceRiverCenter.org.
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