On Saturday, April 11, the Disability Action Center held the seventh annual Mental Health Walk in Moscow.
“This event is meant to stop the stigma against mental illness. We want people to understand that people with mental health disabilities, they can still thrive in their communities and have wonderful lives,” said Hollyanna Call, who has helped organize the walk for the past three years. “We are trying to build an event that raises awareness, that builds connection in our community, that helps people just have a really fun time together.”
A rally was held prior to the event, in which Latah County Commissioner Tom Lamar detailed issues with the Idaho legislature previously voting to cut mental health care to balance the state budget. Speeches were also given by Bryce Blankenship, a University of Idaho philosophy professor and candidate for the Idaho State House of Representatives, and members of the Disability Action Center, Alternatives to Violence on the Palouse and Vandal Recovery.
The most heartfelt talks, however, were those given by community members Steve and Andrew, who spoke of struggling with alcoholism and CPTSD. Vicki Leeper also read her poem, “What We Call It,” about the terminology used to describe mental illness.
The path itself, a 5K, spanned from Friendship Square to the start of the Bill Chipman Palouse Trail and back. At the halfway point, volunteers stood to give out water.
“I believe mental health is a big part of our wellness, not just body, physical, but it’s also an important aspect of our well-being. I’m an advocate for exercising our body, but it’s also exercising our minds,” said Imelda Stout, a retired nurse and stay-at-home mother.
She had driven half an hour to participate in the event, along with her group. “It’s a combination that goes together, so I am a big fan of activities outdoors…I try to do groups with my people in Uniontown; I run a workout group for my people there. I thought I would extend an invitation to them and to see if they wanted to do something like that with me today.”
Participants donned signs and T-shirts supporting mental wellness and encouraging others to seek resources.
“I think sometimes [mental health is] not given the full weight as we do our physical care and healthcare, and I think of it as a three-legged stool,” said Shannon May, a local running for Latah County Clerk. “We need to include that and bring more awareness to it.”
Cal Torres can be reached at [email protected]
Harold A Maio
One can continue to support those taught and teaching there is a stigma to mental illnesses or not. Personally, educating them is a sounder path than repeating them. Harold A Maio