Talking about our mental health is hard, but important.

Tajha Chappellet-Lanier here, thinking about mental health care and talking about mental health.

It’s one of the more difficult topics to talk (or write!) about, in part because one’s own mental experience is such an internal thing and in part because of the cultural stigma (either overt or internalized) that still exists around this topic. 

I’m a firm believer—though not always an equally good practitioner—that we’d all be better off if we talked about our varied internal experiences. I think, with practice, we’d learn new and better language to describe what we feel, we’d learn we’re not alone and we’d pick up tools for dealing with whatever challenges might come our way. For individuals, there are ways to put this into practice with trusted friends or family members. But for groups of people, discussion may take place in a bigger forum.

I’m thinking about all this because tomorrow The Village Project, a Seaside-based nonprofit that provides free services to underserved local communities, will be relaunching its monthly public forums on mental health among underserved communities. The series, which began in 2018, was stopped because of the pandemic. But now, 18 trying months later, it’s back—with much to discuss.

This first edition will focus on the Latino community, and specifically how the pandemic has impacted the mental health of this community. The two-hour discussion will feature an incredibly qualified panel, including Jesse Herrera, a licensed clinical social worker and retired Monterey County Behavioral Health ethnic services manager; Erika Cadenas, a marriage and family therapist; Adriana Melgoza, the director of organizing and education at the Center for Community Advocacy in Salinas; and Valerie Pacheco, a licensed professional counselor at Humanidad Therapy and Education Center in Santa Rosa. Together, these panelists will lay out a vision for how to move toward healing and recovery. It’s an important topic for discussion, especially in the Latino community, which has been hard-hit by Covid-19 cases and deaths.

The pandemic illuminated the “incredible” health care disparities faced by Black and Brown communities, The Village Project co-founder Mel Mason says. He imagines that, in addition to discussing personal healing, the panelists will talk about how to fight for better care moving forward. “This is an opportunity for us to kind of galvanize a movement,” he says.

The forum is part of the Lucille Hralima Mental Health Education Series, named in memory of The Village Project’s first licensure-seeking intern who trained with the organization in 2009. After being diagnosed with bipolar disorder as a teen, Hralima went on to become a social worker for Monterey County’s Department of Social Services and work as an advocate for mental health education and ending the stigma around mental health care. She was killed in a car accident in 2018—and The Village Project continues her dedication to this cause with its popular education series.

If you would like to attend, and learn from these experts, the event is free and open to all. It takes place from 2-4pm on Saturday, Sept. 18 at 1069 Broadway Ave. in Seaside. And this is just the beginning—in future months The Village Project plans to host discussions focused on the LGBTQ+, the Indigenous/Native, African American and Asian/Pacific Islander communities. Stay tuned for details on those.