Maureen Dunleavy, regional senior vice president with the Guidance Care Center, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about the organization.
This is National Employee Appreciation Day.
Dunleavy said, “The first Friday of March is always Employee Appreciation Day. We’ve talked about that this segment we should call mental health moments. So we want to talk about how Employee Appreciation fits into that. We’ve talked about that mental health is managed. We have different stressors, which could be traffic or the weather and that actually trying to focus on what we appreciate or gratitude is a really good, free tool to be able to change your perspective and really help your mental health.”
How can appreciation be shown to employees?
Dunleavy said, “With employees, it can be as simple as saying a word, or a thank you, or doing a breakfast. The other thing is that we know that helping other people helps our mental health. It really is the like the backbone. If we look at like 12 step programs with service, even if you look at some religious endeavors with helping other people and that’s because when we focus on appreciation and help to others, it really helps us. So it kind of takes the focus off of maybe what we’re concerned about, or the stressors we have, and then allows us to really appreciate and experience that gift of helping other people. That’s also why people volunteer.”
What does the Guidance Care Center do for people?
Dunleavy said, “This will be our 52nd year in the Florida Keys, and of course, we have the three centers, one in Key West, behind the VFW, one in Marathon between Home Depot and the community park on the fisherman’s side, and then one in Key Largo. We do a lot of community based services as well. So we have co-located counselors and all of the schools. We also have a program at our jail that does addiction services for inmates. We have a lot of programming, outpatient as well. We also have the only detox and the only crisis stabilization unit that’s state funded in the Keys, and that’s in Marathon. We have mental health housing up there too, with the Heron, which we talked about before. It’s the whole continuum of care, everything from prevention to mental health, housing that we provide, and we’ve got a lot of people to appreciate today. I mean, everything from advocates to peers, case managers, therapists, psychiatrists, nurses, counselors. So there are many, many roles in the 150 employees that we have at the Guidance Care Center.”
The Guidance Care Center serves over 14,000 individuals in the community.
Dunleavy added, “We also do about 10,000 services a month. So that’s a lot. The other thing we should definitely talk about is our mobile crisis response team. So in 2019 we started with this behavioral health hotline, where we would have a 24 hour hotline where people could call, and if you were feeling like you were going to harm yourself or take your own life, or having problems, addiction or maybe even didn’t know what to do, that you had someone to call locally that could also get out to you and connect you to resources we have in the community. So we’re going on our sixth year of doing that, and that phone number is our main number available, 24/7, so individuals can call 305-434-7660, and then press option eight. The script will start. It’ll go through every program and every site we have. You don’t need to listen to all that. If you’re in crisis, you press eight, it directs you to a live person, and we will get you the help you need.”
All ages are helped by the Guidance Care Center.
Dunleavy said, “In addition to that, we will help people, whether they can pay for it or not. So I mentioned the mobile crisis response hotline. That is a free service. There are no charges involved with that and then for any service we have, even if it’s seeing one of our psychiatrists, or if you’re going into detox or crisis stabilization, people should not be afraid to reach out for help, because if you can’t afford to pay for it, then we’re going to help you anyway. So that is kind of the safety net for this community to be able to help people get better, recover and save lives. We don’t want to lose any more lives in this community, to suicide or any other reason, but we definitely want to be able to help people. So there should be no fear about reaching out, because if you can’t pay for help, or you don’t have insurance, we’re still help available.”
Stress like high rent and the threats of hurricanes can also make things tough.
Dunleavy said it “also makes you at higher risk for suicide. So just by the simple fact of being a renter in the Florida Keys is the highest risk factor. Now, when I say that, it doesn’t mean that that’s destined to happen to every person here. But what it does mean is that we have to do more to take care of our mental health, and there are some protective factors, like connecting with our community, like volunteering, like practicing, some of the free tools we talked about to help get through those difficult times or those stressful times like hurricane season, or financial difficulties, any of those types of things that might occur.”
A suicide attempt was just made at the White Street pier recently.
Dunleavy said, “I think it’s really important to note that just because someone is struggling or having thoughts of hurting themselves or ending their life, that is not a finite thing. We go through different periods of our time where it’s we’re in crisis, or maybe we’re having a more difficult time than other times, that’s a time to reach out for help. So if people are starting to not see a way out, and seeing death is the only way out of their circumstances, definitely call us for help. Call 988, to talk to somebody. Because for those whose lives have been saved, who didn’t go through with that, most people say, boy, I was really in a dark place. I’m glad that I didn’t go through with it, or that I didn’t end my life. But oftentimes, people are struggling, and then if they’re drinking on top of it, which is also a depressant. Now you’re impaired, and you may make a decision that you can’t take back. Everyone should remember that reaching out for help is available at no cost. More information can be found on our website, or that 24 hour hotline is 305-434-7660, and then option eight. If people are just interested in learning about what GCC has to offer, you can listen to the script. It will tell you one is detox, and two is transportation and three is personal growth center. So you can listen to the whole gamut of the selections to be able to reach the program that you’re trying to get in touch with.”
For more information, click here: https://www.guidancecarecenter.org/index.html