West Haven Marking Mental Health Awareness Month With May 1 Kickoff Event

Written by Michael P. Walsh

WEST HAVEN, CT — The city will mark Mental Health Awareness Month with a kickoff event at 4 p.m. Wednesday, May 1, on the steps of City Hall, 355 Main St.

The event will feature representatives from Bridges Healthcare, the Cornell-Scott Hill Health Center, Mental Health Connecticut, the Fair Haven Community Health Center and Shoreline Wellness, who will talk about their agencies and the services they offer to West Haven residents.

It will also include remarks by Mayor Dorinda Borer and Health Director Maureen B. Lillis on the importance of mental health awareness.

The public is invited.

Lillis said the city will hand out green awareness ribbons to those attending the kickoff. Green is the international color of mental health awareness, representing hope, strength, support and encouragement for people living with mental illness.

To raise awareness locally, green battery-operated candles will illuminate the windows and steps of City Hall.

“We are observing this special month by calling attention to this very important initiative,” Lillis said. “Mental health is the core of a lot of the issues facing our society, especially when you think about troubled youth and elderly depression. Mental health does impact our daily activities and affects everybody.”

In observance of West Haven’s monthlong mental health awareness campaign, the Health Department will sponsor a number of events, including an aroma therapy activity for West Haven Senior Center members and a basketball clinic for at-risk middle school and high school students.

The aroma therapy activity, limited to 15 members, is scheduled from 11-11:30 a.m. Thursday, May 9, at the West Haven Senior Center, 201 Noble St.

The clinic, limited to 30 participants, is slated from 5-8 p.m. Friday, May 24, at Savin Rock Community School, 50 Park St., and will include the Police Department’s school resource officers.

The city will announce more events soon.

This press release was produced by the City of West Haven. The views expressed here are the author’s own.