Archive for category: Behavioral Health

By Catherine Rice, Vice President of Marketing/Outreach at Health Partnership Clinic, Olathe Noon Optimist Club Member/Mental Health Committee Member

At Health Partnership Clinic (HPC), we know mental health is just as important as physical health. Every day, our Behavioral Health team works alongside patients, families and community partners to provide compassionate care, reduce stigma and connect individuals with the support they need. That mission aligns closely with the work being done through the Olathe Noon Optimist Club Mental Health Committee, where I am proud to represent HPC as both a club member and committee participant.

Recently, our community came together around an important and powerful project focused on youth mental health and suicide prevention. What began as listening sessions with local youth evolved into something much bigger — a meaningful, student-led initiative designed to encourage conversations, increase awareness and remind young people that asking for help is a sign of strength.

The project was shaped through conversations with Teen Council, Zero Reasons Why and student leaders, who identified three major concerns facing youth today: inclusion, safety and suicide prevention. Following heartbreaking losses within the community, local organizations and leaders recognized the need to take action.

Through collaboration with incredible partners including the Johnson County Mental Health Center, City of Olathe, Kansas Department of Health & Environment and HPC, the Noon Optimist Club helped bring a student-created suicide prevention video to life.

“This project shows what’s possible when we listen to youth and work together as a community,” shared Barbara Cordts, President of the Olathe Noon Optimist Club.

Students from Olathe Northwest High School, guided by Sources of Strength, created a professional and heartfelt video designed to break down barriers surrounding the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Their message is simple but powerful: reaching out matters.

The video premiered May 1 in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month and serves as a reminder of the impact youth voices can have when communities choose to listen, support and collaborate.

At HPC, we are honored to support initiatives like this and remain committed to expanding access to behavioral health services for individuals and families throughout our communities. By working together — schools, healthcare organizations, nonprofits, local government and youth leaders — we can continue building a stronger, more compassionate community where no one feels alone.

Because sometimes, just five minutes can save a life.

To learn more about the clinic call 913-648-2266 today!

Watch the student-created video here:

 

 

Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in the United States. In 2024, over 49,000 lives were lost to suicide in the United States and over 12.8 million seriously thought about suicide. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), risk factors for suicide include:

• Previous suicide attempt
• History of depression and other mental illnesses
• Serious illness such as chronic pain
• Criminal/legal problems
• Job/financial problems or loss
• Impulsive or aggressive tendencies
• Substance use
• Current or prior history of adverse childhood experiences
• Violence victimization and/or perpetration
• Bullying
• Family/loved one’s history of suicide
• Loss of relationships
• High conflict or violent relationships
• Social isolation
• Lack of access to healthcare
• Suicide cluster in the community
• Community violence
• Stigma associated with help-seeking and mental illness
• Easy access to lethal means of suicide among people at risk
• Unsafe media portrayals of suicide

Suicide rates were highest among non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) people, males, and adults 85 and older in 2023. Healthcare professionals can help prevent suicide by:

• Routinely screening patients for suicidal thoughts and behaviors
• Consider hospitalization for patients at high risk for suicide
• Refer to a higher level of care if needed.
• Develop a crisis plan
• Collaborate with family members
• Collaborate therapists and psychiatric providers

In addition to identifying risk factors, healthcare providers should help identify and enhance protective factors among at-risk populations, including:

• Effective coping and problem-solving skills
• Reasons for living (for example, family, friends, pets, etc.)
• Strong sense of cultural identity
• Support from partners, friends, and family
• Feeling connected to others
• Feeling connected to school, community, and other social institutions
• Availability of consistent and high quality physical and behavioral health care
• Reduced access to lethal means of suicide among people at risk
• Cultural, religious, or moral objections to suicide

If you are thinking about harming yourself or attempting suicide:

• Call 911 for emergency services.
• Go to the nearest hospital emergency room.
• Call or text 988 to connect with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. The Lifeline provides 24-hour, confidential support to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress. Support is also available via live chat.

Health Partnership offers therapy services, psychiatric medication management, and substance use services. To schedule an appointment or for more details, call 913-730-3664.

By Christopher W. Woodward, LCAC, Substance Abuse Specialist

Dog Days of Summer

Stop for a moment and remember the start of summer. Remember the feeling when that new warm sun hits your skin, the days filled with fun and joy. Remember the change from the bitterness of the fall and winter to the warm and consoling temperatures of the spring and the summer.

For some of us it is a break, a time to recharge. A time to gather at the lake or pool and relax. As time passes that warmth has been replaced with oppressive heat. We have hit the dog days, the last days of summer where we start to find the building heat unbearable and irritating.

This year, the heat has been enough that the temps have felt like 100 degrees for several weeks. And we have had enough. We get to the point where we want to stay in, not socialize, not see our buddies at the pool or splash in the lake. The sunglasses have been lost and scratched, and the cool water of the lake has moved to a warm taped bath that seems to not refresh as easily. Our skin is burnt and sore, and the kids are cranky and needing a routine.

Often this is the same as our use of substances.

Many of us started off with the warm benefits of relaxation and a carefree lifestyle—to the hot and humid oppression that our summer has become. Many start the substance of choice for a reason. Perhaps to relax on a hot day after mowing the yard, to kick our feet up and read a good book or to start a conversation with a new person at the local establishment.

Just like summer, the more exposure we give the alcohol or the substance, the more wear and tear it has on our brain and on our body. Sometimes we need more of the substance to get the same effect, moving from that one relaxing drink to several drinks over several days. Then we find that those drinks do not satisfy like they used to, and we cannot get through the day without them.

As we move into Recovery Month, it is important to know that these dog days are only part of our story. They come around sometimes yearly and cause us to feel emotions, and irritations and to seek comfort and care. We can look around and find a spot to refresh, relax and gain access to the care that we need. Recovery can bring in a new season of life where we learn skills. A way to feel safe to remain in places where we can fill up the voids of relationship, pain, suffering and problems. Places where we can go out in the sun and not get burned as it were.

A balanced life of recovery provides us and our family with the best of all seasons, even the hot ones.

Health Partnership Clinic offers a comprehensive medical home that addresses all of your medical, dental and behavioral and substance-related needs. For more information call 913-730-3664.

By Christopher Woodward, LMAC, Substance Abuse Specialist

September is National Recovery Month. The aim of this month is to increase awareness and understanding of mental and substance use disorders and celebrate the people who recover.

I always hear the statement “once I stop using, my life will get better.” That is a true statement in that our brain, body and family relationships gain recovery and rest when we stop using our substance of choice. A person can start the long process of rebuilding their hourly and daily lives.

However, the road is more emotionally and physically difficult for the person seeking recovery. For some substances, quite literally, there is more emotional and physical pain attached to recovery than resuming use. This is not great news for those early in recovery, but it is a welcome reminder of where we have come from for those that are a little further down the road. There is an opportunity to mend relationships, earn respect and push out of being marginalized by our substance of choice.

This pain and practice can lead us into the changed life.

Finding a reason to move out of our substance use into change is the first step. Making the change and practicing the change is step two.

I had a mentor tell me once that the best evidence of a changed life is a changed life. It is a simple statement but really difficult to complete. So many of us will change the one thing that we think is holding us back. Whether it is cutting the carbs, stopping that afternoon Diet Coke, or not driving past the liquor store on the way home. These small changes can lead to successes which can lead to more success and momentum of change. Thus, we become better at practicing our change and our process.

We use the support of the people around us and our new skills obtained in treatment to push out of pain into practice of our recovery. We start to move on from the bigger moments of our past and our present. We move on from the trauma, missed expectations, and the wreckage that our substance use has left behind. If we keep up the practice of a changed life, we will one day look up from the work that we have done on ourselves, and our life is changed. We become the evidence of a changed life.

The next step is to serve others and help them along the path to recovery.

Health Partnership offers substance use services, therapy services and psychiatric medication management.

To schedule an appointment or more details, call 913-730-3664.