Our 5th Annual Walk a Mile in my Shoes Rally was a huge success. It seems to get better each year! A very special ‘Thank you‘ goes out to Crystal and Josh Suzik for being our main speakers at the Rally. Their testimonies touched everyone. We could not agree more with their message. “Ask for Help.”
We would like to thank Bob Sheehan, CEO of Michigan Association of Community Mental Health Boards for making the long drive from Lansing to speak at our event. Mr. Sheehan talked about the importance of events like Walk a Mile that demonstrate how the power of groups can help to influence lawmakers.
Gogebic Community Mental Health is a part of the NorthCare Network in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. We would like to thank Mr. Bill Slavin, CEO of NorthCare for speaking at our Walk a Mile in my Shoes Rally. NorthCare has always been supportive of the event, and Mr. Slavin’s participation is greatly appreciated.
We want to also thank the Bessemer Peer I and Peer II students and the Wakefield – Marenisco National Honor Society students for helping us get ready for our Walk a Mile in my Shoes Rally. Students assisted with decorating, food preparation and serving, and helped along the highway making the public aware of our event, your help is greatly appreciated. We also hope that attending the Rally can help students gain a better understanding of what it is like to have a mental health issue. They will be able to share this knowledge with their schools, friends, and families. The Rally can raise awareness, that it may be struggle to have a mental health issue, but compounding that with a negative stigma makes it even more difficult.
Last but not least we want to thank the people that took part in the community statements segment of the program. We also refer this as the open microphone segment, an opportunity for anyone in attendance to step up and tell their own, very personalized story. Stories may be about a particular illness, dealing with the stigma associated with the illness, or discuss being bullied in the past. Other people have expressed gratitude for their families, friends, and Gogebic Community Mental Health for offering support.
We thank you for sharing your stories, and we commend you on the courage that you have to share your story. When a personalized story is told about the stigma associated with a mental illness, it tells us there is much more work to be done. When we hear stories about people being bullied, we know there is more work to be done.
Thank you to everyone that attended.