Waterloo Listens hosted its most recent general assembly meeting Monday at Human Support Services in recognition of May as Mental Health Awareness Month.

Much of the meeting was dedicated to a discussion of mental health led by HSS Chief Program Officer Stephanie Moore and HSS Development Director Courtney Hunter.

The two discussed the nonprofit’s latest efforts to better address mental health concerns facing Monroe County residents.

Moore spoke at length about the variety of services HSS offers, noting specifically the efforts the agency has made to educate members of the community in mental health first aid, essentially the ability to recognize signs of mental illness in order to get individuals the help they need.

She mentioned HSS has been pushing to educate adults on how to assist with the mental health of their peers as well as of youth.

Moore added that requests for counseling and other services have been on the rise at HSS since the COVID-19 pandemic started, particularly among kids, teens and young adults.

“Recently, we have seen a large uptick of youth that are needing supports, as far as mental health needs,” Moore said. “You know, I hate to always mention it, but the reality is COVID flipped things upside down. And so whether it was an adult dealing with transitions and the struggle that it was, now we also put that inside the brains of youth who don’t have the same processing that adults have, and them also adjusting and making transitions accordingly. So there has been a large increase in youth that are needing supports, and then also understanding how adults can support the youth as well.”

Hunter was part of a recent mental health awareness training session, and she spoke to how positive an experience it was for her to gain a better understanding of how to help those around her.

“It was really cool,” Hunter said. “It was very enlightening. And I think it was empowering, because we all have the tools or the resources we need to help someone in a time of crisis or to guide them to the appropriate help and to help them be comfortable.”

She further compared mental health first aid to more traditional first aid, saying this sort of training can be vital for folks to assist friends and family in getting the more long-term help they might need.

Moore also spoke about HSS’ push to help educate young people on mental health awareness with a program called Signs of Suicide.

With mental health being such a problem for youth, Moore said it’s important to also educate them on how to recognize and assist with any problems their peers might be facing.

“It has impacted our community,” Moore said. “And so whether we want to acknowledge it or not, the reality is there are individuals who choose suicide, and so we want to equip our youth with being able to acknowledge what that looks like and how they can help.”

Moore and Hunter also discussed the Living Room, where Monday’s meeting was held. The space is meant to be a more comfortable environment for those seeking some HSS services.

“The idea of the living room is to be a non-clinical safe space where people can come and get to the services that they need,” Hunter said. “We have programs in here to reduce social isolation and more programming to come.”

Also mentioned was the organization’s presence in local school districts. Hatcher noted this was the first year HSS had social workers present in Columbia, Waterloo and Valmeyer.

These social workers, she added, were greatly utilized by the students. It’s expected that HSS staff will spend even more time within the county’s school districts next year.

HSS’ upcoming Shine Your Light Gala was also brought up. The event takes place June 9 at The Falls. For more information, visit hss1.org.

Members of Waterloo Listens also discussed a number of other matters, including the group’s Welcome Neighbor Supper Club taking place June 24.

Group members also discussed the ongoing Open to All