DeStigmatize Me
Donation protected
DeStigmatize Me isn't just an event, It's a mindset.
Here's the deal: DeStigmatize Me (DSM) is a music and arts event sponsored by the community, for the community, aiming to spread information, combat stigma, and raise awareness of mental health issues and the hundreds of people in the First Coast area who deal with them everyday.
When, where, and what? DeStigmatize Me is taking place at 1904 Music Hall on May 7th, from 4-10 PM. The event features:
-Local bands: Northe, Le Orchid, Faze Wave, Sunspots, and The Offshore
-Interactive art by I Still Matter and Flagler College
-Artwork by children from The Betty Griffin House, The Jacksonville School of Autism, and more!
-Mental Health resource booths
-Onsite t-shirt printing courtesy of Shipyard Dog
-Airbrush tattoos, food, drink, and much more!
100% of proceeds will go to the Jacksonville chapter of National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), a 501(3)(c): meaning all donations are tax-deductable and for an amazing cause!
But why NAMI? They do a little bit of everything, and they do it well. NAMI uses funding to help people with depression. People with anxiety. People with schizophrenia. NAMI helps people. Period. They provide support and education to individuals and families affected by mental illness, as well as to the general public. Additonally, NAMI advocates on national, state and local levels to create more effective mental health policies and promotes research to help develop new treatments and early intervention solutions.
That sound's great! But what are stigmas and why do they matter? Stigmas are an attempt to label a certain group of people by their illness or by negative sterotypes associated with their illness. Stigmas exist in a variety of settings; however, stigmas related to mental illnesses are particularly prominent and affect not only what our community believes about people with mental illness, but what these people believe about themselves. Mental health stigmas can limit access to housing and employment, damage social relationships, and, perhaps more importantly, significantly reduce the odds of an individual seeking mental health treatment.
In fact, in large part due to stigma, nearly 60% of US adults in need of mental health care services go untreated every year. A nation wide study recently found that only 25% of adults with mental health symptoms believed that people are caring and sympathetic to persons with mental illness and research has found that people with mental illness would rather tell their employers that they have committed a petty crime than admit to being in a psychiatric hospital.
So, why mental health? Why Jacksonville? In short, because we need it. Desperately. At any given time, there are about 1.4 million Floridans living with a serious or chronic mental illness. More shockingly, a 2012 report put out by the Department of Children and Families estimated that 1 in 2 Floridians will experience some form of mental illness in their lifetime.
Despite this, Florida, and specifically Jacksonville, is notoriously underfunded in terms of mental health care. In 2014, Florida was ranked 49th out the 50 US states in terms of per capita mental health funding and there have been no rate increases for funding mental health services in 20 years.
So what can we do about it? Our goals are twofold. 1) Raise money for the Jacksonville chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). 2) Utilize music and art to provide a safe space, free of guilt and shame to start a conversation about mental health.
One of the biggest challenges facing the mental health community today are the stigmas, shame, and the guilt that often accompany mental health issues. It is our goal to work towards ending these stigmas and to begin to drag these problems kicking and screaming out into the light. To say: "It's OK to talk about this. It's GOOD to talk about this. Everyone needs help".
So let's do this, together. Help us celebrate strength and eliminate stigma.
We are DeStigmatize Me.
Here's the deal: DeStigmatize Me (DSM) is a music and arts event sponsored by the community, for the community, aiming to spread information, combat stigma, and raise awareness of mental health issues and the hundreds of people in the First Coast area who deal with them everyday.
When, where, and what? DeStigmatize Me is taking place at 1904 Music Hall on May 7th, from 4-10 PM. The event features:
-Local bands: Northe, Le Orchid, Faze Wave, Sunspots, and The Offshore
-Interactive art by I Still Matter and Flagler College
-Artwork by children from The Betty Griffin House, The Jacksonville School of Autism, and more!
-Mental Health resource booths
-Onsite t-shirt printing courtesy of Shipyard Dog
-Airbrush tattoos, food, drink, and much more!
100% of proceeds will go to the Jacksonville chapter of National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), a 501(3)(c): meaning all donations are tax-deductable and for an amazing cause!
But why NAMI? They do a little bit of everything, and they do it well. NAMI uses funding to help people with depression. People with anxiety. People with schizophrenia. NAMI helps people. Period. They provide support and education to individuals and families affected by mental illness, as well as to the general public. Additonally, NAMI advocates on national, state and local levels to create more effective mental health policies and promotes research to help develop new treatments and early intervention solutions.
That sound's great! But what are stigmas and why do they matter? Stigmas are an attempt to label a certain group of people by their illness or by negative sterotypes associated with their illness. Stigmas exist in a variety of settings; however, stigmas related to mental illnesses are particularly prominent and affect not only what our community believes about people with mental illness, but what these people believe about themselves. Mental health stigmas can limit access to housing and employment, damage social relationships, and, perhaps more importantly, significantly reduce the odds of an individual seeking mental health treatment.
In fact, in large part due to stigma, nearly 60% of US adults in need of mental health care services go untreated every year. A nation wide study recently found that only 25% of adults with mental health symptoms believed that people are caring and sympathetic to persons with mental illness and research has found that people with mental illness would rather tell their employers that they have committed a petty crime than admit to being in a psychiatric hospital.
So, why mental health? Why Jacksonville? In short, because we need it. Desperately. At any given time, there are about 1.4 million Floridans living with a serious or chronic mental illness. More shockingly, a 2012 report put out by the Department of Children and Families estimated that 1 in 2 Floridians will experience some form of mental illness in their lifetime.
Despite this, Florida, and specifically Jacksonville, is notoriously underfunded in terms of mental health care. In 2014, Florida was ranked 49th out the 50 US states in terms of per capita mental health funding and there have been no rate increases for funding mental health services in 20 years.
So what can we do about it? Our goals are twofold. 1) Raise money for the Jacksonville chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). 2) Utilize music and art to provide a safe space, free of guilt and shame to start a conversation about mental health.
One of the biggest challenges facing the mental health community today are the stigmas, shame, and the guilt that often accompany mental health issues. It is our goal to work towards ending these stigmas and to begin to drag these problems kicking and screaming out into the light. To say: "It's OK to talk about this. It's GOOD to talk about this. Everyone needs help".
So let's do this, together. Help us celebrate strength and eliminate stigma.
We are DeStigmatize Me.
Organizer
Dakota K. Lawrence
Organizer
Jacksonville, FL