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Jim Chinn
Thoughts from the professional
Psychologist Rick Gertsema speaks at the groundbreaking.
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Chinn
Groundbreaking
Groundbreaking for Amberwing took place in October 2011.
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Jim Chinn
The mayor speaks
Pat Burns listens to Duluth Mayor Don Ness, a program supporter, at the groundbreaking.
Duluth Community Pulls Together to Build Amberwing
For decades, the “C” word – cancer – seemed culturally taboo. No one wanted to mention a family member who either had cancer or who may have died from it.
That taboo has slowly disappeared, and people more openly discuss the illness, have more awareness of prevention and early detection and have created fundraising resources that net millions each year for research and to develop treatment tools.
If only the same were true of mental illness – especially a mental illness that might prematurely take the life of a young person through suicide.
“There’s always been this stigma attached to mental health,” says Pat Burns, president of the Miller Dwan Foundation. “Mental health is under resourced and underfunded. … Twenty or 30 years ago, we didn’t want to talk about breast cancer, and we managed to get over that stigma. Today you will find people will talk openly about cancer … but nobody will talk about depression or schizophrenia.”
The statistics, both national and regional, beg the need for action.
Nationally, 1 of 5 young people struggle with mental health issues and some 500,000 teenagers try to kill themselves every year and thousands succeed, according to some estimates.
Regionally, more than two-thirds of adolescents who die by suicide live outside of the Twin Cities metropolitan area, in rural communities that do not have the resources to help. In Minnesota, suicide is the second-leading cause of death for teenagers (after vehicle accidents) and the third-leading cause of death for younger children.
These kinds of statistics and the urging of parents struggling to get help for their children and of mental health professionals looking for additional resources moved the Miller Dwan Foundation board to tackle the need.
Members decided to champion the building of Amberwing, a major center that would be a place to help children with mental health and substance abuse issues, that could attract more mental health professionals and could be an educational resource for parents. The foundation partnered with Miller-Dwan Behavioral Health, Essentia Health and many area professionals.
It’s become one of the most rewarding fundraising projects the foundation has undertaken during her 20 years as president, Pat says.
“It’s been amazing. We’re talking in 26 months we’ve raised $5 million in the midst of a recession. I’m just so proud of this community, and the way it steps up to the plate.”
The cost was originally estimated to be $5 million, but when bids for construction came in at $1 million higher than that goal, the foundation increased its goal to $6 million to create a building that matches the community need.
Construction started in June and an official groundbreaking ceremony for Amberwing took place in the fall. The building in the Duluth Heights neighborhood is slated to open in the fall next year.
Rick Gertsema, a licensed psychologist with a specialty in child and adolescent psychotherapy, will provide clinical leadership for the new center.
Among the most pressing needs he’s seen as a behavioral health psychotherapist with Essentia Health is simply access to mental health care providers and information. Some children wait up to six months before they see a therapist, he says, and that is too long.
“If a child is in crisis, the whole family is in crisis,” Rick says.
Amberwing will be able to handle 60 clients a day, from birth to age 25, which is almost five times more than the numbers that can currently be served by Essentia Health.
Among the integrated programs at the center will be a series of two- to four-week programs, seven hours each day with five hours of therapy and two hours of classwork for children with mental health issues, chemical dependency or behavioral problems. Such programs are intended to reduce the number of suicides and suicide attempts, reduce chemical dependency among youngsters and the numbers of drug overdose deaths.
Amberwing also will provide education for parents, including parenting classes and a resource center with a professional staff person and material resources. “One of the missions that we have for Amberwing is that we’ll be doing parent education,” Rick says. The center can help parents understand typical development from childhood through emerging adulthood and can also offer parenting training.
Often people blame the parents or parents blame themselves when a child has mental health problems.
“I think that the mindset is still, ‘Well, what are those parents doing? … They’re just being a failure at parenting,” Rick says.
“We need to to eliminate those two terrible words of fault and blame.”
Through the education function at Amberwing, expanding knowledge about mental illness can reduce the stigma and can get help to children when they need it.
“How horrible it must be to be in a position that the best choice is to end your life,” Rick says. Amberwing should give children and families struggling with these issues a place to get help and hope.
Already the fundraising campaign itself has gone a long way to raise awareness of mental health issues. Broadcasters and publications, including Lake Superior Magazine, have donated space and time to the “Give Voice Now” campaign that shows people talking about losing a loved one to mental illness.
Both the awareness and funding raised give Rick hope about the local commitment to mental health. “We need to think about what’s happened in 26 months; the community embraced mental health. It’s incredible, truly incredible.”
Good to Know
To give to Amberwing’s fundraising or to get help with or information about mental health care, call Essentia’s Behavioral Health Services at 218-786-1186 or log onto www.givevoicenow.com