In recognition of May as Mental Health Awareness Month, we checked in with Jennifer Martinez MSW, LISW-S, Vice President of Behavioral Health Operations (Ohio), to understand the kinds of things we should be thinking about to spread awareness and support our own mental health. She also shared how our organizational approach to helping all people at Volunteers of America is designed to support mental health, too.
I am the youngest of 5 boys. I grew up in a small town in Ohio, about 5,000 people small. When you grow up in a small town, there isn’t much to do. Everyone drank for fun, so I did. I started when I was 14. I was good at drinking and the life of the party. By 17, I was a full-blown alcoholic and dabbling in drugs.
For 21-year-old Cierra, “one more time” had become her mantra. Just one more, it won’t hurt anything, she would think to herself. I will stop after this hit she told herself over and over again. It was not until she had her daughter that she turned “one last time” into “taking it one day at a time”.