As soon as the last piece of pumpkin pie has been eaten, I immediately begin my holiday preparations. I turn on my Christmas playlist, unpack my ugly sweaters, and begin my holiday baking. In previous years, I have filled my social calendar to the brim. I’m either going to a holiday party, attending a …
Crystal Balzer loves working with families. Absolutely loves it. That’s why she thoroughly enjoys being a Community Mental Health Counselor with Family Service doing Parent Aid, Day Treatment, and Community Counseling. The excitement bubbles through her whole body when she is out working in the valley. With an Associate’s Degree in Early Childhood Development from Virginia …
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Please allow me to start this spotlight by first congratulating Maggie on her recent marriage! Now, let me introduce Maggie Evans, a Community Mental Health Counselor with our Youth Development programs. It took one experience with adult clients for Maggie to firmly know she belongs working with children and teens. As much as she enjoyed working …
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As families across the Roanoke Valley prepare to join together in gratitude, many are missing someone. For a child like Johnny, who lives with his grandmother, this season of giving and thanksgiving will be affected in ways we may never know. “Addiction and incarceration, child abuse and neglect, and economic factors all have contributed to …
Koryne Wright will tell you herself, she has always wanted to be a social worker. She is stoked to be getting the opportunity to turn passion into a career. “I love to help people and want to make people feel valued in the process.” Currently working on her Bachelor’s in Social Work at Liberty …
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Society continues to stigmatize mental health challenges, using it to justify villain’s behavior in video games. Blaming bad behavior on mental health. Not only does this–in video games or the real world–shed a negative light on mental health, it dehumanizes those who do struggle, showing them that they are not capable of doing anything constructive. Because …
“How can you ask for help when you’re suffering Domestic Violence if you don’t speak English, you don’t have any friends, and you can’t drive and don’t know the area where you are living?” These questions came from a woman in a local Domestic Violence support group for Hispanic women. I help lead the group …
Minute: a unit of time equal to 60 seconds or a sixtieth of an hour “In a minute!” How often do you use that phrase? “I’ll be there in a minute!” “I’ll do it in a minute.” “It will only take a minute!” In a minute you can microwave chicken nuggets from frozen to …
Diane Kelly, retired Executive Director of Mental Health America of Roanoke Valley, joined the Board of Directors for Family Service of Roanoke Valley in August 2017. She brings a wealth of knowledge about mental health advocacy in Virginia, and the overall landscape of mental health services in the Roanoke Valley. Family Service is fortunate to …
Continue reading “Does living in Poverty affect Mental Health?”
A truth for you all to know about me: I Google everything. It might be the millennial in me or maybe something else, but if I don’t have an answer, I immediately search for it. This is why for National Depression Screening Day, I Googled depression. Google and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) …
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