From Struggle Comes Strength Event

Looking for an opportunity to work out, socialize, and learn a little more about The Kim Foundation?

During our last health fair, The Kim Foundation was approached by the owners of CrossFit Elkhorn about teaming up and having a mental health awareness event. We are very excited to be able to reach a whole new community of people and start a conversation about the importance of mental health and suicide prevention.

RESPECT Summer Youth & Social Well Being Series

Over the past three weeks, The Kim Foundation had the opportunity to host RESPECT’s Summer Youth & Social Well Being Series. This year the group held three separate sessions throughout July, and each session covered different topics for a wide-range of ages. Each session was attended by over 30 school counselors, teachers, and administrators from all over the Omaha area. Following each performance there was a panel discussion with professionals from our community, as well as group role play.

Understanding the Importance of Self-Care

Over the past year, I have begun to feel some of the wearing effects of compassion fatigue. Compassion fatigue can be defined as fatigue caused by empathy. It is the natural consequence of stress resulting from caring for and helping suffering or traumatized people. This concept was foreign to me before beginning my position here at The Kim Foundation.

Hill Day 2015

I’m excited to serve as this year’s National Council Hill Day State Captain for the state of Nebraska, and am grateful for former state senator, and current NABHO Executive Director, Annette Dubas’ help in the process. This year Hill Day will take place October 5th & 6th in Washington, D.C. It’s the biggest behavioral health advocacy event of the year, where hundreds of stakeholders join together to serve people living with mental illness and addictions by urging Congress to support our work.

Project Semicolon

If you have a social media account, chances are you have seen the image of someone with a semicolon tattoo (;). This tattoo trend was started by a faith-based nonprofit group dedicated to presenting hope and love to those who are struggling with depression, suicide, addiction, and self-injury.

New Schizophrenia Treatment Option

A new treatment option has now been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The three-month injectable, Invega Trinza, is an atypical antipsychotic used to treat schizophrenia.

“Melancholy.”

Last Monday evening, The Kim Foundation attended an event hosted by local filmmaker, Nathan Edwards. Edwards and his cast and crew had just wrapped up filming, “Melancholy,” merely hours before the event took place. “Melancholy” is a film about the experience of a young woman in her twenties dealing with the realities of major depressive disorder.

Dolphin Assisted Therapy

In Nebraska, equine therapy is slowly becoming more understood and utilized. Equine therapy, or horse therapy, has been proven as an effective form of both occupational and physical therapy, as well as beneficial to victims of trauma, and individuals with other behavioral health challenges such as eating disorders or substance abuse.
However, if we lived on the coast, there would another form of animal therapy available to us, dolphin therapy.

Mental Health in Our Community

Recently Erin Grace did a series of powerful articles in the Omaha World Herald on the status of mental health services in our community. While the intention was to highlight where gaps exist, and she did this successfully, I think she also did a nice job of telling one brilliant story of recovery, as well as the real struggles families have faced in their journeys with mental illness. I would like to begin with a huge thank you to the Duckert, Shumaker, and Pinkelman families for telling their stories, sharing their grief and tragedies, and providing messages of hope and concerns, all to shed light on the successes and failures of our mental health system.