Humboldt Brain Storm: Clearing the Fog of Mental Health Misconceptions

This bar chart depicts the average suicide mortality rate by age range over the time span of 2005 through 2020 for Humboldt County, for California, and for the United States. The different age ranges are 14 years and under, 15 to 19 years, 20 to 29 years, 30 to 39 years, 40 to 49 years, 50 to 59 years, 60 to 69 years, and 70 years and older. The chart shows that Humboldt County has a higher average suicide mortality rate than California or the US for every age range except for the 14-years-and-under group. Sources: WISQARS Fatal Injury Data Visualization, multiple years https://wisqars-viz.cdc.gov, Humboldt County DHHS–Public Health Vital Statistics, multiple years. 

Humboldt County’s suicide rate is nearly double the state average, with 19.6 deaths per 100,000 people compared to California’s 10, according to a 2022 report by the Department of Health and Human Services. Other mental health markers are nearly as dismal.

As part of a wider strategy to address mental health, on Sunday, local mental health professionals and community advocates are stepping forward to address common misconceptions about mental illness, offering a dialogue that addresses the complexity behind addressing mental health challenges. The City of Eureka is prepared to challenge misconceptions that have long clouded mental health awareness. This Sunday’s town hall event, “Myth Busting: Turn Awareness into Action,” takes on the misconceptions that prevent community members from seeking help, understanding their neighbors, and recognizing mental health as a fundamental and often repairable aspect of life.

Jacob Rosen, Managing Mental Health Clinician of Crisis Alternative Response for the City of Eureka (CARE) explained that the goal of the town hall is to not only elevate awareness within the community, and in doing so, increase community understanding of the needs and circumstances of those suffering with mental health issues – but also to offer feedback and instill hope in those who suffer in silence or languish in the throes of their specific challenges without seeking help. Rosen explained by phone that because May is Mental Health Awareness month, this town hall effort is “trying to challenge the myths and fighting stigma,” while raising awareness in the community, because despite being a type of invisible injury, as Rosen put it, “mental health symptoms are here. Many people have them. They don’t discriminate.” 

This Sunday, at the Wharfinger Building on Eureka’s Waterfront Drive, from 11 AM to 4 PM a community Town Hall event will feature two separate panel discussions, before a keynote speech by Joseph Reid, author of Broken Like Me, a book about mental health recovery. The town hall event “Turn Awareness into Action: Myth Busting Mental Health Community Town Hall” is open to all community members. No RSVP or ticket is needed to attend. 

Some key mental health myths to be “busted” are fallacies that not only directly impact those seeking or in need of help for their mental health, but also impact the perception of their troubles by those around them. According to NAMI, “one out of five adults in the United States experience mental illness each year,” while “one in six youths age 6 to 17 experience a mental health disorder each year”. NAMI estimates that “50% of all lifetime mental illness begins by age 14, and 75% by age 24.”

When asked what specific myths are going to be addressed, Rosen highlighted two examples: First, the misconception that a person who suffers from mental health issues is inherently violent or somehow dangerous due to their condition. Rosen explained, “When you look at the research, it shows that individuals with mental health symptoms, even severe mental health symptoms, are no more violent than the rest of the population.”

The second example Rosen offered was related to perception of and by those experiencing mental health fractures, the fallacy being that those mental health conditions are permanent and untreatable. Not so, say the experts. According to Rosen, “While some individuals may, depending on the illness, may need to engage in therapy or medication treatment to maintain the absence of symptoms, there are lots of folks who are able to go about their lives and live very successful, healthy, happy lives, even amidst mental health issues, or you know, folks who can recover from them entirely, and not experience them again.”

[Image by Wokandapix at Pixabay]

NAMI estimates that the average delay between onset of mental illness, symptoms and treatment is 11 years. And so, the time-tested adage of ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ applies broadly when considering the scope of mental illness going untreated, and perhaps unrecognized, in California. 

Attendees at the Sunday town hall event will first hear from a panel of local professionals, including District Attorney Stacey Eads, Behavioral Health Director humboldt county Emi Botzler-Rodgers, Regional CIT Coordinator Kelly Johnson, and Executive Director of Waterfront Recovery in Eureka, Jamaica Bartz. 

The second panel discussion will center community members with lived experience with mental health challenges and recovery, to provide insights that are relatable and inspired by first hand experiences. This panel will feature Leah Nagy, President of National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) Humboldt, Joe Nagy, Wes Harrison of Crossroads in Eureka, and James Faulk, local newsman and host of Headline Humboldt at KEET-13, our local PBS affiliate. 

After a short break between panels, there will be a catered lunch available before the keynote speaker delivers a few final thoughts. There will also be informational tabling by several community partners and groups which contribute to mental health treatment and awareness in the community. 

For Mental Health Awareness Month, Eureka has planned several events that include workshops and community outreach for the month of May.

Rosen concluded, “There’s hope out there, there’s services out there, and there’s ways that folks can get better,” as he encouraged community members in support, and anyone who is grappling with internal personal challenges, mental health hurdles, or challenges in obtaining services to attend the town hall on Sunday.