MY STATE OF MIND INITIATIVE IS BUILDING A MENTAL HEALTH GUIDE BOOK FOR COOK COUNTY

SocialWorks, a local nonprofit, is calling on volunteers to help them compile a list of mental wellness resources in Cook County as part of their recently launched the My State of Mind initiative which is working to build a mental health guidebook. Photo Credit: Jordan Macy/Jon Ladalla
SocialWorks, a local nonprofit, is calling on volunteers to help them compile a list of mental wellness resources in Cook County as part of their recently launched the My State of Mind initiative which is working to build a mental health guidebook. Photo Credit: Jordan Macy/Jon Ladalla

My State Of Mind Initiative Is Building A Mental Health Guide Book For Cook County

BY KATHERINE NEWMAN

The My State of Mind initiative was recently launched by SocialWorks, a local nonprofit. Through the initiative, the organization is currently working to create a mental health guidebook that will provide a broad range of information about mental health services that are available in Cook County.

“SocialWorks is a youth empowerment charity founded by Chance the Rapper

and our goal is just basically to empower the youth through arts, literature, civic engagement, and education. The way that we do that is through a few initiatives that we have which are the Warmest Winter initiative, the My State of Mind initiative, the Support CPS initiative, and Kids of the Kingdom,” said Essence Smith, co-founder and director of communications for SocialWorks.

The My State of Mind initiative was initially announced at the second annual SocialWorks Summit which took place in October. My State of Mind is a mental health solution that is aimed at unifying the broader mental health community, increasing the access and visibility of services, and making it admirable to be honest with yourself, according to the SocialWorks website.

“This is our only initiative that is geared towards mental wellness and My State of Mind is pretty simple, we just want to make it admirable to be yourself,” said Smith. One of the biggest goals of this initiative is to create a guidebook that will provide a comprehensive collection of mental health resources within Cook County including direct care services, referral-based services, educational services, and programming opportunities.

“We are making a guidebook that unifies all these resources and puts them in one central location so folks within Cook County will be able to see where these resources lie, whether that’s a yoga studio on 87th Street or an art studio that practices mental wellness therapy within ceramics in Uptown.

We want all of those people and service providers to go into our guide book and later this year when we launch the guidebook, it will be a resource and a tool that anybody in Cook County can use to better their mental wellness journey,” said Smith.

SocialWorks has created a My State of Mind Cohort that is the backbone of their guidebook and composed of individual practitioners, private institutions, and public entities within Cook County and the mental health industry. The cohort is responsible for guiding the My State of Mind initiative to make sure the final guidebook is universally beneficial, according to the SocialWorks website.

“There is no talk about mental wellness in our mission but it is something that is really needed right now. There has been a trend of defunding mental wellness institutions not only in our city but also all over the world,” said Smith. “Mental wellness and mental health, whether we know it or not, affects everyone.”

To learn more about the My State of Mind initiative and to contribute to the guide book visit www.socialworkschi.org/ initiatives/my-state-of-mind/.

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