Rotary Supports a Stigma Free Park Ridge

Park Ridge Rotary Club members recently welcomed featured speakers, Shelby Klein and Jamisin Saracino of CarePlus NJ, a Paramus-based organization that provides mental health services as well as a continuum of related support.

 

Shelby Klein, Vice President of Development, and Jamisin Saracino, a mental health professional who provides client advocacy and community education, explained that the number one reason for suicide is inadequate help based on a sense of shame and stigma. 

 

The Stigma Free initiative is designed to remove these attitudes by increasing mental health awareness. 

 

For several months Shelby, CarePlus, a group of Park Ridge residents and a representative of the Pascack Valley Mental Health Center have been working to promote the Stigma Free conversation in Park Ridge.

 

Results to date include a Park Ridge Council Stigma Free resolution, posting several Stigma Free signs at various community parks, a Facebook page promoting educational information and messages of encouragement, participation in November Mental Health Awareness Week, and a planned training program in February for which the Park Ridge Rotary has donated funds to cover a youth mental health speaker.

 

 

CarePlus NJ support services include assistance in coping with anxiety over other health conditions, child welfare services and help transitioning to self-sufficiency that include job training and temporary employment.