Worried about some of her friends, a Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center board member recently messaged the center’s CEO, Patrick Schmitz, and other staff members.

“I have friends who are just down and need some positivity,” the board member said. “I have been asked if Bert Nash has any online resources/exercises/links that would help people who are experiencing low energy or light depression during these seasonal days of COVID. Thanks for any help.”

Help is available — not only on the Bert Nash website, but on a new community resource website hosted by Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health: ldchealth.org/hope. The new resource is part of Douglas County’s Unified Command Community Well-being Branch.

The Unified Command structure was developed to lead a comprehensive pandemic response, combining local government, health, education and business leaders, and it added the Community Well-being Branch in November. The new branch is intended to work with community partners to meet the emotional and social health needs of essential workers, high-risk people and anyone else in the community who’s experiencing mental health problems amid the pandemic.

Schmitz, one of the three co-leaders of the group, said the pandemic has magnified the importance of mental health services in the community.

“Because of the pandemic, we face a mental health crisis unlike any we have seen before, where anxiety and depression are affecting our community at higher rates, while the resources of those needing help have diminished or disappeared entirely,” Schmitz said.

Along with Schmitz, Lawrence Arts Center CEO Margaret Weisbrod Morris and Lawrence Parks and Recreation Assistant Director Lee Ice are helping to lead the group. They said their organizations can help bring people together and provide a positive outlet during a stressful time.

“The way we’re staying healthy at the Arts Center — the way I’m staying healthy — is to let go of the things we can’t do right now and what we have lost, and instead look ahead to see what do we have right now and what we can build from this,” Weisbrod Morris said. “That is what will make us stronger as people and as businesses and organizations, but it’s also a huge opportunity to bring the community together in a time of crisis.”

“It’s not just the importance of physical activity, it’s the mental well-being of people,” Ice said. “We’ve been fortunate this fall that the weather has been pretty good. People have been able to get on the trails and walk and bike and do those things. People have been very appreciative of whatever we could offer.”

The Community Well-being Branch’s objectives include:

• Identifying needs and resources to support the essential workforce responding to COVID-19.

• Identifying resources and outreach opportunities to support people who had mental health needs before COVID-19, as well as people who are currently experiencing mental health problems because of the pandemic. Those problems might include isolation, depression, stress, anxiety, substance abuse or domestic violence issues.

• Creating a communications strategy to aid the community in building hope.

• Identifying communications strategies to ensure that the community knows about and can access programs for testing, vaccination, health care and mental health services.

• Collaborating with other Unified Command branches that focus on education, housing and human services.

• Encouraging activities that combat personal isolation and allow for personal connections and recreation in a safe manner.

Resources available

Various community agencies have provided mental and physical wellbeing resources on the Community Well-being Branch’s website.

One of those resources is myStrength, an app that provides digital self-care resources for Douglas County residents at no cost.

“COVID-19 has presented everyone with a unique set of circumstances that challenge our mental health, resilience and well-being,” said Bob Tryanski, director of behavioral health projects for Douglas County. “That’s why we are encouraging every member of our community to subscribe to myStrength.”

Tryanski said the app offers tools for a variety of situations — anxiety, loneliness, grief, and even the challenges of parenting during a pandemic.

Another resource is an online class called Mental Health First Aid.

“Mental Health First Aid is a great class for people from all sorts of backgrounds to learn how they might support someone who is struggling,” said Julia Gaughan, Bert Nash’s prevention and education manager. “You learn about the signs and symptoms of mental health and substance use challenges as well as a framework for responding in a way that’s nonjudgmental and encourages professional help and self-care.

A link to a full listing of Mental Health First Aid courses is available at ldchealth.org/hope. There is a registration fee of $30, but scholarships are available. For information, contact mhfa@bertnash.org.

Hope for ‘our entire community’

The pandemic has been challenging not only for individuals and families, but businesses and organizations as well. That’s why the Community Well-being Branch also includes representatives of the business community, such as Lindsey Slater, director of communications for the Lawrence chamber of commerce.

“It’s been an emotional roller coaster for a lot of business owners,” Slater said. “So many businesses have been diligently following the health orders, whether it’s to their detriment or not, because they want to keep our community safe. But that has taken its toll on a lot of business owners.”

Slater said it’s important to support local businesses during this time, and that mental health care for business owners and workers is a key component of that.

“That mental health aspect for our entire community, including the business community, is such a vital piece to see us through until we can see the other side,” Slater said.

Ice, of the Parks and Recreation department, agreed. He said his department’s staff has experienced its own share of struggles as the pandemic has dragged on, including difficulties with developing safe programs for community members.

“It’s been difficult on our staff,” Ice said. “Our parks people do a tremendous job to build up community — you look at the Christmas lights downtown; you look at the flowers, the parks; we haven’t missed a beat. But with programming, it’s totally different. There’s so much planning involved, but with this pandemic, we don’t even know what we’ll be doing tomorrow.”

The Community Well-being Branch is rolling out another symbol of hope to go along with things like the flowers and holiday lights: the hashtag “#DGKS♥,” which will be used on the group’s social media posts as well as yard signs that will be made available to the public.

“We, as a community, are all in this together,” Weisbrod Morris said. “We’re trying to get things out visibly into the community that remind us of that.”

“When all of this is over, I won’t have seen my parents for over two years, and I’m not the only one,” she added. “A lot of us are in that situation. But we can all also be hopeful together. That’s what this group is born out of.”

— Jeff Burkhead is communications director at Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center.