Warren's Safe Haven takes up the call

When the call comes, you must answer it, and that's exactly what Worland's Danielle Warren did when starting the Warren's Wyoming Safe Haven counseling services.

With suicide impacting the Worland community in recent years, Warren, a licensed professional counselor, had been wanting to do something to help prevent future suicides. She had also been talking with Oxbow Center Chief Executive Officer Mary Johnson about having a place where youth could go when things were at the bottom. Then, the building on the corner of Robertson Avenue and North Eighth Street became available, and Warren and her husband, Tim Warren, jumped at the chance to buy it.

"God," said Danielle Warren when asked about her motivation to start the Wyoming Safe Haven. "It started when I was working at the [Worland] middle school, I'd talk to Mary Johnson. We kept saying we needed a facility for youth who are not delinquents and don't need to go to the group home but need a safe space. She said if you build it, I'll help you. Then with the suicides we have had here, I just said we need to do something."

As they've remodeled the building over the last year, Safe Haven has begun seeing some of their first clients, and this has been beyond rewarding during the remodel.

"Everything has fallen into place to this point. If there's something we need, it just works out. We needed new windows and got a grant for that," said Warren. "Seeing the fruits of your labor come to pass. It's like a marathon. That first step you're asking yourself what have you gotten yourself into, but a little further or half way in it's not so bad."

The vision Danielle Warren has for Safe Haven is to provide a spot for counseling for youth, adults and groups, and a temporary residential facility for youth in crisis. The residential part will be where trained staff can supervise youth to work through their challenges. It'll be a similar model to what the Y.E.S. House in Gillette offers to their community.

Modeling after the Y.E.S. is just one of Warren's goals for Safe Haven. She'd like to do suicide prevention talks in schools all over Wyoming and, from there, connect them with local counseling agencies in their communities.

Warren's also been thankful for the support from the Worland community. The city council approved having half the building for residential use, and she's had people reach out to offer their services.

"One of my long-term goals, I'd love to give back to communities and share and do suicide prevention in schools. Then, maybe even provide free services to those who need it. We'd look to connect them to organizations in their community. Hopefully, within the next five years, we can offer residential space, education and awareness. I'd even like to reach out to the state and advocate that way. It's just one day at a time.

"The cool thing is that our community is tight-knit and they know what we're doing. We had to get an exemption requestion to allow for part of the building to be used overnight. Even a teacher has reached out and asked if they could lead a group," said Warren.

More and more, society is learning the importance of mental health. For rural communities especially, getting access to mental health services can be difficult. But that's another reason Warren is motivated to start Safe Haven.

"One of the hardest things for people in our small community and communities is you grow up with the same people. As awesome as that is, it's really hard to change because everyone knows your business. For kids, that can be a huge challenge, especially with social media. Where do you hide because that is such a big part of their life," said Warren.

Social media plays a large role in mental health, especially among youth. Countries like Australia have age-gated social media use, not allowing those under 16 to use any social media app.

"There are countries banning social media until a certain age. We're not the only ones having a problem. We're starting to realize the impact this is having on youth. The difference for youth versus adults is that they're at that vulnerable age where peers are the most important thing. We all went through that and that's a huge part of human development," said Warren. "That adolescent phase is huge. As an adult if someone is rude to me on social media I'm probably just going to turn it off. But for them, it's like, oh someone doesn't like me."

Taking care of one's mental state is just like taking care of your physical body with sleep, diet and exercise. Being proactive and focused on your mental health is as important as going to the gym and working greens into your meals.

"In the middle school we started a program called Sources of Strength. It looks at a premise of if somebody falls in a river and is about to go over a waterfall. A lot of times in mental health we wait until they're about to go over the waterfall. So the question is how do you help them before and keep them from falling in?" said Warren.

TAKING CARE OF YOUR MENTAL HEALTH

There are three things that Warren suggests everyone does to take care of their mental health. First, you should have an appreciation for the good things and people in your life. The majority of religions practice this, and it is a way to see the forest instead of the trees.

"There are three things that you can do to be healthy emotionally. The first one is have an attitude of gratitude. I know it sounds silly but it's true. There was a really cool article 'What Psychologist Can Learn From Religion' and what they can learn is that almost every religion focuses on counting your blessings and positivity. It doesn't matter what religion you are Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, they all focus on an attitude of gratitude and seeing the good in the world," said Warren. "It's like feeding your body healthy food. You're giving your mind healthy thoughts."

Second, is having regular social interactions. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, regular social interactions are important to mental and physical health, and those with stronger social bonds are more likely to live longer and healthier lives.

"The other one is having good social connections. If you don't have family around or have family, reach out to someone and invite them to dinner or lunch. It was funny when I would go to the health club there would be a group that sit and had coffee together. I'm not sure they ever worked out but to me that's what you need. I love that. You need social connections and they're like our exercise. It doesn't have to be this huge thing, you just need to find a way to interact with other humans," said Warren.

Third, is meditation. The first visual, when you think of mediation, is sitting quietly with eyes closed, controlled breathing and doing all of this in a serene location. While that might be meditation for some, it's not the only means to meditating.

Meditation can be any number of things like reading, prayer, cleaning, cooking the list goes on and on. It's something for the individual to focus on and put the distractions of the world on hold for a while. It's also good practice to have several ways to meditate.

"The last one is finding time to mediate. If you look at your physical health it's good food, exercise and sleep. Your mental health is gratitude, social interactions and meditation. Meditation can look like playing a video game, going for a walk, playing with your kids, sewing, whatever it is for you. It's about turning off your brain from all the distractions and relaxes you and rejuvenates you. Having multiple ways is the healthiest," said Warren.

A regular practice of gratitude, social interaction and meditation can keep an individual's mental health robust.