Who doesn’t love a cute puppy picture? Soft, warm, cuddly, emotionally uplifting. The images shown here make me yearn for a moment or two with a 12-week-old chocolate lab, all full of playful energy and exuberance. Just looking at a picture of one makes my heart swell and brings on a broad smile and happy sigh. A puppy’s little leash can pull at my heartstrings like a violin playing a Vivaldi sonata in double time. Fast and sure comes the beat until I’m fully absorbed in a special moment. And the little pitter-patter of puppy feet on the hardwood floor is always a treat. They’re so pure, so precious, so pretty, and so much fun to be around. What an uplifting experience to spend time seeing a happy puppy!
Now, how about our mental health? This isn’t going to go the way you think. Yes, of course, having a puppy will bring joy to our hearts and help with mood, relieve stress, and give us that sense of exuberance in a little package that makes us feel good. But, how about the people who need lots of cute puppy love in order to stay alive? But they can’t get it, or can’t feel it for reasons they can’t understand? We know how to take care of a puppy — it takes time and effort, and plenty of it, to feed, train, and help them get outside before they wet the carpet, or worse. We know that comes with puppy ownership. Yet, how do we care for the people we love when they can’t even feel the puppy love they need to thrive and survive — even if it’s thrust into their laps?
Enter your local community behavioral health center like West Central Behavioral Health. It’s here that people help people to feel the kinds of things many of us feel each time we see a cute puppy picture, or get a warm whisper of soft, puppy breath against our cheeks. Puppy pictures are emotionally uplifting. People in distress are not. That’s why I’m only showing puppies here in this piece about mental health.
At West Central some of the most caring and compassionate people in our region work every day to care for and save lives. They’re committed to helping others who can’t help themselves, often because they know there is tremendous community need that would never otherwise be filled. For some West Central workers, it’s on the cusp of being selfish — helping other people in distress makes them feel better about themselves. Even if that is selfish, I’ll take it! Psychiatrists, therapists, nurses, doctors, crisis clinicians, case managers, and administrative staff like receptionists and computer technicians at West Central all pitch in to help people in need of expert, evidence-based and clinically-proven care.
What do they know that many don’t? The answer is threefold. First, they know many West Central clients are just a heartbeat way from real danger, like jail, or living on the street, or not being able to eat, losing their friends and family, or losing their life. Second, they know 1 in 5 people will experience mental illness this year and 1 in 2 will do so in their lifetimes - they know we’re all in this together. And, third, West Central staffers understand the true meaning of puppy love and how to deliver it to others - with great care and tenderness!
The professional love West Central employees share with clients every day, by design, works miracles. It’s like having puppies to send throughout our community whenever someone is in distress. Better, it’s like having a best friend to confide in, and who happens to know exactly how to help you in the moment. Community mental health is hard work, just like training a puppy, but, when the results are in, sometimes months or years down the road, and lives are saved or made more full and rewarding, nothing can compare to the time and effort put in by West Central’s community mental health employees. Call them our puppy-love experts, call them magic, call them wonderful and caring people, call them front-line healthcare workers, or expert and compassionate behavioral health clinicians. But, most importantly, call them when you need them, and don’t wait until you’re in a crisis. (Phone numbers to call are below.)
If there’s one silver lining to the COVID-19 pandemic, other than the fact that puppies didn’t contract the virus, it’s that the pandemic exposed to the world our own human fragilities. Mental health is now something people talk about openly like never before. Why does this matter? It matters because people used to be afraid to call a therapist and ask for help, or place a call to a crisis phone line and talk with someone about their harmful intentions. Now, with mental ill health so exposed on a global scale, people feel more comfortable talking about how they feel, and they’ll reach out to experts like the clinicians at West Central before a crisis strikes. Employers are now adding mental health programs to the workplace because they finally understand the economic consequences of mental ill health. A $1 investment in scaled up treatment for depression and anxiety yields a $4 return in better health and productivity! We’re on the verge of a broad awakening when talking about mental illness no longer carries a stigma to be feared.
Today, the world is full of puppy love. I can feel it. Hope you can, too!
The author is director of development & community relations at West Central Behavioral Health which has clinical offices in Lebanon, Claremont, and Newport, NH. Last year, West Central extended close to $600,000 in charitable care to clients in desperate need of mental health, substance misuse, and crisis services. Many lives were improved and saved. Please, if you’re able, donate what you can to help this local, community mental health center so it can continue to help others in true need. Click Here to donate, or visit http://weblink.donorperfect.com/givetowestcentral
West Central’s 24/7 Crisis Response Line: 1-800-564-2578
To schedule a first-time appointment: 1-603-542-5128
Thank you for reading!