HOUGHTON, Mich. (WLUC) – Expanded mental health services will be available in copper country.
Unitē Mental Health and Wellness in Houghton received a $68,500 grant.
Founder Angela Price said the money will be used to launch the nonprofit Thriving Minds Project, which will add infant mental health services, and she started the project to address a need in the community.
“When we first started this nonprofit, one of the biggest gaps in care was children,” Price said. “As we’ve continued to work, and we’re two years into it, we’ve seen a huge gap in infant mental health.”
Part of the grant money enabled the nonprofit to hire Zachary Meston, a social worker and infant family specialist.
He says infant mental health services aim to ensure the social and emotional stability of children under the age of 6. It’s important to work with parents as well as the children themselves, he explains.
“We use those relationships as a vehicle for social and emotional growth,” Meston said.
Meston hopes the program will help eliminate the stigma around seeking mental health services, especially for young children.
“The idea is that you don’t have to be diagnosed with any disease to be able to receive treatment,” Meston said. “What’s really possible is that this is a very proactive approach.”
$50,000 of the funding came from the Copper Shores Community Health Foundation and $18,500 from the Superior Health Foundation.
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