We Need to Talk About Mental Health

Let the Talks Begin!

Happy Week Four, friends!

I am excited to announce that we are officially beginning the Honors Talk Series (HTS) for Fall 2021.  Our first speaker is Laura Johnson, who works in the bookstore as a store manager.  She has this to say about who she is and what she is calling us together to talk about:

Laura Johnson is a second-generation collegiate retail professional with an addiction to subsistence living. After living through a lifetime’s worth of experiences in mental illness, disability services, alcohol and drug addiction, marriage, divorce, love and heartache, the laugh and worry lines are well earned. Subsistence living and homesteading is a passion that maintains her sanity, as well as a healthy dose of therapy and healthy respect for medication.  Never one to let a living thing suffer, she named her homestead after the oddities and misfits: “Off Center Acres- Redefining normal, one living creature at a time.”

We hear time and time again that mental health is increasingly important and yet, there seems to be no shifts in how we operate to treat those suffering from mental illnesses. Society still operates as if mental health is somehow “other” from physical illness. This talk is to reinforce mechanisms to protect our mental health and reinforce our right to prioritize our mental health as part of our overall healthy lifestyle.

I don’t think I can convey how much I love this.  So many suffer from mental health challenges and they are too often overlooked, judged, disbelieved, or otherwise silenced.  This needs to stop.  We have to support those who struggle with issues relating to mental health, just as we support those with physical challenges.  Come engage in this conversation with us.

All are welcome – whether you have your own mental health challenges or you simply want to hear the conversation and brainstorm ways we can support those in our lives who face these obstacles.  Mental health should never stop someone from living their fullest life and we should never reduce someone to just their diagnoses.  Let’s have this conversation together; you are not alone.

You can attend this talk virtually or join us in a classroom on the FLCC campus.  Here is what you need to know:

Talk Title:  “Mental Wellness When the Rest of the World Doesn’t Value It”

Date:  Wednesday, 29 September 2021

Time:  5:00 – 6:00

Room:  2310 (24 person capacity, masks required)

WebEx Link

(email me if you need more information or other WebEx login info)