Where To Look For Help: MVCEAB Hosts Mental Health Resource Fair

By GRACIE LEAVITT & VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

More than 700 people came to the Clark County Fairgrounds in Logandale on Thursday evening, Sept. 9 for the Moapa Valley Mental Health Resource Fair.

The event was put on by the Moapa Valley Community Education Advisory Board (MVCEAB) to address issues of depression and anxiety in the community which have been exacerbated over the past 18 months by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We know that there are a lot of people; our neighbors and friends; who are suffering in silence and don’t want everyone to know how they are feeling,” said MVCEAB Chairwoman Wendy Mulcock in an interview with The Progress. “This is why we are having this event. If it helps just one person it will be worth it.”

The event featured world-renowned guest speaker and suicide prevention activist Kevin Hines. Hines spent about an hour on Thursday evening, telling his story to the crowd.

Earlier in the day, he had also spoken to local students at special assemblies held at Moapa Valley High School and at Mack Lyon Middle School.

In all of these presentations, Hines talked about his own struggles with mental illness as a youngster in the Bay Area of California. He said that his life was filled with unwanted voices, bullying and feelings that his life was meaningless and worthless.

All of this led him to a low point at the age of 19 when he attempted to take his own life by leaping from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Franciso. Hines is one of only a very few to have survived that experience.

On that day, Hines said that he had reached a point where he believed his life didn’t matter and that no one cared about him. Having lived through the experience, though, today he understands that everyone would care.
“I imagine that, where I was and what I was doing, you all would have cared,” he said.

Hines had heartfelt words for those who may have thought, or are currently thinking, about committing suicide.

“My new friends of Moapa Valley, please hear me when I say this: Suicide is never the solution to your problems,” Hines said. “It is the problem. You are all a gift to this world and a gift to each other and a gift to me. You are meant to be here until your natural end. You matter most, I promise you that.”

He advised those plagued with suicidal ideation, that when they feel hopeless, they must find someone and simply ask for help. Generally, people want to help, he said.

“Your pain is valid,” Hines said. “Your pain is worthy of my time and others’ time. Don’t let your pain defeat you. Let it build you brick by brick to be the strongest person you have ever become.”

Hines admitted that he still lives with regular thoughts of suicide that plague him from time to time. But he insists that he will never die that way.

“That is because I will always ask anyone willing to listen to me these four simple words: ‘I need help now!’” he said. “If the first person who I turn to can’t help me, I will turn to the next and the next and the next until someone is willing to empathize with my pain. If I can do that, so can all of you. Because you are important, you are valued, you are loved and you matter!”

Hines also instructed the audience on what they should do when they are worried that someone they love might be contemplating suicide. He said that three simple questions must be asked in these cases.

First, are you thinking about killing yourself? Secondly, have you made plans to take your own life? And third, do you have the means to do so?

“These are scary questions to ask,” Hines said. “But they give someone who is considering (suicide) permission to speak on their pain. And a pain shared is a pain halved. If you can get someone to share their truth, you can be a catlyst for saving their lives.”

Earlier in the evening, a variety of other activities were held to build a sense of community togetherness and to showcase the resources available out there to people and families who are hurting.

A free community dinner of hot dogs and hamburgers was provided and grilled up by the Moapa Valley Rotary Club. Overton Lins Market had provided a deep discount on these food products. In addition, more than 1,500 cookies of different varieties were baked from scratch by the MVHS Culinary classes with ingredients donated by Logandale resident Scott Carson.

The 4-H Teen Leadership Corps (TLC), with assistance from the MVHS Student Council and the National Honor Society organized an array of games and activities for young people during the fair.

These included stressball stations, cornsack races, three-legged races, bounce houses, a sticker trading table, a petting zoo booth and more.

Lining the walkways into the fairgrounds were more than thirty different expo booths, each offering mental health resources to the public through various organizations. These included the Mobile Crisis/DCFS by David Taylor, Emotional Resilience by Danea Gollahon, Nutritional Therapy by Sonja Glick, the American Red Cross, Journaling and Photography with Kristin Conk, the Mesquite Behavioral Health Center, Mesa View Regional Hospital, Silver Lining with Beverly Bradley, the Indian Education Opportunities Progam, PACT, Meditation and Mindfulness with Annie Leavitt, Safe Nest, Grief Counseling services and the school counseling staff from both the Virgin Valley High School and the Moapa Valley High School.

This extensive resource expo was organized by Erika Whitmore, social worker at Mack Lyon Middle School.

“We find that we have a limited amount of mental health resources in these outlying areas,” Whitmore said in an interview. “So this was an exciting event that allowed families to connect with these resources in dealing with anxiety and depression as it occurs in our kids and families. They were able to connect with those resources that they most needed in an informal environment.”

To put on this major community event, the MVCEAB raised more than $18,000. Mulcock said that a good part of those funds came from community efforts and private donations.

We live in such a great place,” Mulcock said. “There are so many wonderful people who stepped forward and realized how important this is. They opened their pocketbooks and gave generously to make this all possible.”

The MVCEAB also received a $10,000 grant from the PACT Coalition, a regional mental health organization which stands for Prevention, Advocacy, Choices, Teamwork. Mulcock said that PACT Deputy Director Mary Duff had been very supportive of the effort and had offered more resources to the community in the future.

Also helping in the community fundraising effort over the past couple of months has been the TLC youth group led by 4-H advisor Dianna Walker. Walker said that the kids’ involvement was key to the success of the event.

“I was so impressed with these kids, it was amazing!” Walker said. “Of course, the adults could have planned it all and it would have been fine. But the kids leading out on things brought it right down to that target age group. Things were geared toward their peer group and there was a lot of power in that.”