Progressive Residential Services and Alternative Choices Community Inclusion program met at the state Capitol on Wednesday, May 11, to join Michigan’s 46 Community Mental Health agencies for the seventh annual “Walk a Mile In my Shoes” rally. The event is to bring attention to state legislators regarding mental health issues and to help combat the stigmas and prejudices associated with mental illnesses, developmental disabilities and substance use disorders. Eighty-three people who use CMH services, one from each county in the state, will deliver brief statements from the capitol steps about the status of the public mental health system in their counties.
The Michigan Association of Community Mental Health Boards, the educational and political arm of the CMHs in the state organizes the annual rally. MACMHB expected more than 2,200 people at the event, including people who use CMH services, people who work in the CMH system and mental health advocates of all stripes.
“The rally helps showcase the importance of addressing issues facing people with mental illness, developmental disabilities and substance use disorders,” said Dianna Nelson of Progressive Residential Services and Alternative Choices.
“We took part in the successful rally in 2008. We are excited to become a part of the impressive 2009 Walk a Mile in My Shoes Rally, and we are eager to once again join advocates from across the state to bring our message to the public,” Nelson said. “There is a compelling need to continue to work and understand the realities of mental health and illness, in order to make improvements in our current system.”
In Michigan, one in five adults will experience a mental health disorder at some point in their life, yet many do not get the treatment they need. One of our goals is to make sure that everyone who needs treatment for mental health and/or substance use disorders in Michigan is able to get it.
Romeo and Sterling persons served on vacation with manager Lucrecia
