On March 16, a grassroots committee hosted the Worland Mental Fitness Fair at the Worland Community Center.
Members of the panel were Dr. Ralph Louis, psychologist from Oxbow Counseling in Basin; Janae Harman, owner of Family Circle Counseling in Worland; Mary Johnson, CEO of Oxbow Counseling in Worland; and Carol Bell, provisionally licensed therapist at Foundations Counseling in Cody.
The panel answered prepared questions that came from the committee and from similar events in Shell, Greybull and Cowley.
The Northern Wyoming News will be covering the questions on a weekly basis throughout the next several weeks.
Can you get help for mental illness without taking medications?
Johnson: I think you’ve seen that today that there are many different methods of dealing with mental illness and therapy is one of those methods.
There’s also a lot of resources around [the community] that can help support mental fitness and mental wellness. But Ralph Louis talked about mind/body connections and physical fitness as part of what we are talking about today.
There are lots of ways that people can get help and I think it’s really important to be open to those different ways of getting help. Because what works for you might not work for another person.
Just being there to connect with them and ensure that you’re there to support the choices that they’re making that might be helpful to them is also a really good way to support them getting help for their mental illness.
Next week’s question: Do most people who die by suicide have a mental illness?