Mental Health – David and Thu Brulé YMCA of Marquette County

Know the Five Signs:

Green Light Skills:

Yellow Light Skills:

Red Light Skills:

Know the Five Signs:

Green Light Skills:

Yellow Light Skills:

Red Light Skills:

We All Have Mental Health

Learn about how to care for yourself and others with the Y
Mental Health is how we think, feel and act. This means we all have mental health!
There are many things we can do to take care of our mental health. In fact, the Y is medicine! Let us help you find your Y prescription.

Did you know the Y is Medicine?

At the Y, we focus on healthy living in mind, body, and spirit, which includes mental health. So, what is mental health? Mental health is how we THINK – FEEL – ACT. In other words, how we are! What can the Y do to help your mental health? Every time you work out, your body releases chemicals that help increase happiness and reduce stress. Every time you get to know someone at the Y, you are boosting your sense of connection. Giving back to the community increases a sense of purpose. And so much more!

Mental Health at the Y Framework

Mental Health at the Y Community Care Model focuses on mental health:
– Promotion through strategies that increase mental health literacy and awareness
– Risk reduction through strategies that develop and encourage effective coping skills, peer support, and genuine relationships
– Early intervention through education and training, including crisis management, and how to detect signs of struggle and connect individuals to formal supports when needed.

What Does Mental Health at the Y Look Like?

Weekly Mental Health Moments

Improving mental health is not always easy. Sometimes a weekly boost is all we need to stay on track. For this reason, we have created our Weekly Mental Health Moment text subscription. Enrolling in this weekly message is entirely free, can be stopped at any time, and is open to all community members. This group will receive weekly mental health skills, resources, and uplifting quotes. Text mentalhealth to (906) 205-4568 to enroll.

Staff Education

Our Mental Health team works with our Leadership and Supervisory staff to ensure that they are educated on what mental health at the Y looks like, how they can best support the mental health of those around them, and the warning signs that someone may need help. We are also working to integrate more specialized mental health tools for staff in departments like school-age care, summer day camp, and gymnastics.

Youth Mental Health

We are dedicated to supporting the mental health of the youth we serve. This fall, we began supporting our school-age students’ social, emotional, and mental health by implementing curriculum in our youth programs. We also utilize Generation Mindful in our youth classrooms. Our summer day camp staff are provided training on mental health, adverse childhood experiences, and resiliency. We are looking forward to incorporating more mental health, mindfulness, and resilience-building activities into our youth programs.

Connecting With Others

An essential part of what “mental health looks like at the Y” is our daily interactions with each other. We encourage our staff when talking with each other and our members to connect in meaningful ways. One of the simplest ways we do this is by asking, “How are you?” in a genuine way and providing a genuine response. This opens space for us to talk about what may be going really well in our lives or what we might be struggling with and allows for us to provide support or ask for help.

Community Partnerships

The Y is dedicated to improving the mental health of not only our staff and members but also of our community. We are happy to work with other community non-profits and for-profits on bettering the mental health of our community, getting individuals connected to resources and providing education and programming. If you’re a community partner looking to connect, please reach out to [email protected]

Community Resources

If you or someone you know is struggling and needs help, there are resources within our community that are there to support you. Listed below are organizations here to help meet your needs.

YMCA Resource List-

Emergency: Call 9-1-1

Suicide Prevention Resources:

Crisis Text Line: TEXT 741741
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: CALL 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (Spanish): CALL 1-888-628-9454
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (Options for Deaf and Hard of Hearing): CALL 1-800-799-4889