Surviving Christmas working coming up

Tri-County Mental Health and Wellness is a non-profit organization committed to supporting and promoting healthy mental health for individuals, community and businesses.

Our main objective is to open a community drop-in centre where people who feel they are in crisis, can find support immediately. Our long-term vision is to partner with the mental health care system and help alleviate the long wait times for people needing support and also a way to reduce emergency room visits.

We believe that people are people first, and they are not their illness. Our goal is to help those living with or who have a loved one living with mental illness live meaningful and fulfilling lives. Mental illness does not have to live your life for you. We coach people on coping strategies, peer support, individual support, and programs designed to empower people and help them take their life back.

Some of the workshops include support for mental illness, grief and loss, suicide prevention and awareness and recovery and empowerment.

It has been a difficult struggle getting community support for a muchneeded service in our area. Currently I have written and delivered workshops that have been very successful in the Yarmouth and Shelburne area. I’ve also supported 274 people who are struggling to find ways to cope. During the tragic Pubnico fire last year, I helped to support 171 people trying to find a way to understand and live past the tragedy that occurred.

Surviving Christmas, was a program I wrote and developed and will be delivering again this year starting Oct. 17 at the NSCC in Yarmouth. It was a very successful program last year and helping people who struggle through the Christmas season. For some people Christmas isn’t so merry. People suffer from the loss of a loved one, grief, the stress of the expense, addiction and trying to find a way to get through the holidays when people expect them to be cheerful.

The course is $60 for the six weeks and includes a workbook and a nutritional break, however, we try to offer this course for free and count on the support of community.

Anyone wishing to sponsor seat we do so by calling 1-902-266-9891 or you can email tcmhwa@yahoo.com. You can also use these contacts to register for the course.

Brenda Martin,

President of the Mental Health and Wellness Center in Yarmouth and a Mental Health Education Nationally Certified Peer Supporter