KANSAS CITY, KAN. --- Unified Government Mayor/CEO Mark Holland and Kansas City, Mo., Mayor Sly James will be partnering later this month to increase awareness on mental health.
A community dialogue will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sept. 21, 2013 at the Imperial Ballroom at the Kansas City Marriott Downtown hotel, located at 1213 Wyandotte in Kansas City, Mo.
The Kansas City metro area is one of 10 cities nationwide to be holding a community event centered around mental health.
“Mental health issues affect all of our families and communities, but as a society we struggle to have open and honest conversations about it,” Holland said . “I am excited for the dialogue that the Kansas City region will create to raise awareness of mental health, and to help find community-based solutions to mental health needs."
More information below:
Mayor Sly James, of Kansas City, Missouri, and Mayor Mark Holland, of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, will hold a community dialogue on mental health on Saturday, September 21st. Earlier this summer, President Obama challenged Americans to hold a national conversation to increase understanding and awareness about mental health. The Kansas City community is one of only 10 nationwide chosen to hold this day-long event. The Mayors are working with Consensus, a local nonprofit dedicated to weaving together public policy and community input, to plan and promote the dialogue.
Three hundred residents will engage in this dialogue, forty percent of which will be individuals who are currently involved in the mental health system, including consumers, family members and service providers. The other 60 percent will be composed of interested citizens. Residents from the six-county metro area, including Jackson, Clay, Platte and Ray in Missouri, and Johnson and Wyandotte in Kansas, are eligible to attend. In particular, the organizers are asking young people ages 14-24 to attend and make their voices heard. Participants will discuss effective ways to recognize, prevent and treat mental and behavioral health problems, especially in young people. The public is encouraged to register for the dialogue online at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CreatingCommunitySolutionsKC. Registration is currently open and will remain open until 5pm on Friday, September 20th.
