By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News
Seeking to further its mission of promoting suicide prevention and awareness, the H.O.P.E Squad of Carbon, Emery and Grand Counties is hosting a Helping Hands and Hopeful Hearts event on Saturday, April 4.
Serving as a fundraiser for the group, the event arrives just in time to create a mothers day gift while participating in a discussion about mental health. This multifaceted approach can serve as a perfect bonding opportunity for child and guardian.
“Over the course of the last year, the H.O.P.E Squad has been able to donate almost nine thousand dollars and invest it back into our three communities. So we have sponsored speakers to come to Emery County. We have sponsored mental health events in Grand County. We have sponsored rodeos and different events here as far as resource and conferences and things like that, and we appreciate our community so much that we want to give that money back,” explained Amanda McIntosh, suicide prevention liaison at Four Corners Community Behavioral Health.
She continued,” I like to have a little bit more local control on what we donate actual funds to that I know is going to make a difference in our community. So the Helping Hands and Hopeful Hearts really stems from just bringing money back to the H.O.P.E Squad of Carbon, Emery and Grand Counties so that we can turn around and reinvest it back in the community.”
Erin Waybright will teach the class and will guide participants through the pottery process, creating heart-shaped dishes perfect for jewelry, rings and other small treasures.
In addition to craft instruction, the event will also provide parents with an opportunity to discuss mental health with their youth. “Of course, we’re going to have a mental health component to it and help these adults start navigating starting conversations with their youth about mental health and what that means, and so we wanted to bring in that prevention element.”
With other events ongoing throughout the community, Helping Hands and Hopeful Hearts will feature two time slots: the first begins at 10 a.m., and the second at 2 p.m. Both sessions will take place at the FCCBH Administration Building, 690 East Main Street, in Price.
“This is just an additional step to help breakdown those barriers. We know that starting the conversation is half the battle, right?” Shared McIntosh. “Once we learn the safe way to talk about mental health and to engage our youth in In opening up about what things that are happening in school and with our social friends and talking about you know safe screen time and substance use and all of these preventive things that are going to promote that healthy mental health for the long term the more likely it is that the bond between caregiver and youth is going to get stronger as well.”
Registration for the event is open and ongoing, with each heart costing $25. Interested participants can sign up on Eventbrite.
“Once we breakdown that stigma, we’re going to normalize talking about our mental health the same way that we have normalized talking about our physical health,” closed McIntosh. “That is the ultimate goal.”
Helping Hands and Hopeful Hearts will take place on Saturday, April 4, with sessions beginning at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. at the FCCBH Administration Building, 690 East Main Street, in Price. Registration costs $25, with sign-ups open on Eventbrite.