PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — It’s okay not to be okay; that’s the message from Trillium Place.
“So, ask for help,” said Donna Crowder, Trillium Place’s recovery coordinator. Crowder was a guest on WMBD This Morning to urge people to address problems before they get overwhelmed.
“Once you don’t ask for help, those issues begin to exacerbate,” she said. “There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to mental health awareness.
“Everybody is dealing with a different struggle, and multiple layers of trauma, so everybody’s fighting a fight,” Crowder said.
A main barrier for some is not having people understand where they are coming from and also “not meeting them where they are.”
She hopes that with July being National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, people work to find healthy ways to “deal with unaddressed trauma and how to deal with anger and let them know that it’s ok to go ask for help.”
She hopes that the stigma of ‘what goes on in the house – stays in the house’ does not prevent people from getting help.
“The message that comes from my heart is that there is hope,” she said. “There is help, and it’s ok to not be ok, and be kind to one another.”
Local resources include Carle.org and TrilliumPlaceHealth.org. A person can also call (888) 311-0321.
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