• For All Seasons' ''Give With Your Heart'' Campaign Shares Mental health Stories

For All Seasons’ “Give With Your Heart” Campaign Shares Mental Health Stories
 
For All Seasons’ “Give With Your Heart Campaign” is raising funds to continue its critical work to meet the increased mental health needs of the Eastern Shore with accessible mental health and rape crisis services. This virtual campaign, which will run from April 7 through April 11, underscores the importance of mental health and community connection. During the campaign, the agency is sharing meaningful stories through video interviews shared by For All Seasons’ staff about real-life client stories. Segments from these client stories are included below.
Meet 13-year-old Ashley: Last year a really bad thing happened to me that changed everything. I was raped by a man that was a friend of my family. At the time, I was outside playing and hanging around in a place that had always been fun for me. Right after it happened, I couldn’t tell my mom for days because I was hurt. I was ashamed, and afraid people would not believe me or that the kids at school might even know and make fun of me.
Meet 52-year-old Mike: I have been a first responder since the age of 20. I’ve always taken pride in being the guy that could handle anything. You don’t go into this profession expecting it to be easy, but after years of seeing things no one should see, the weight started pressing down on my chest, my mind, and my sleep. I became short with my wife, and distant with my kids but I just convinced myself that it was part of the job. Until the night that I could no longer convince myself. This was the one that nearly broke me. It was a crash, but it was like nothing I had ever seen before. When I looked down at the child pinned in the wreckage, something cracked inside of me. He had the same haircut as my son and the same terrified look in his eyes. And when I couldn’t save him and had to step away from the scene something hit me. A reality set in and something inside broke.
Meet Suzanne: Six years ago my husband and I adopted our two amazing nieces, growing our family to five beautiful children. My older niece, Bridget, was just three years old at the time. In Bridget’s first three years of life she had to endure challenges that most adults will never see in an entire lifetime. At this tender age, unbelievably, she had become a caretaker in their unstable home for her younger sister. Her parents regularly neglected Bridget and abused her. She was stuck as a toddler trying to manage an unsafe life with no guidance. 
Beth Anne Dorman, President & CEO of For All Seasons, shares that every week her phone rings with calls from people in our community – people facing challenges they never expected, looking for answers and help from someone they trust – a woman in crisis who was experiencing an extreme panic attack, a parent whose teen was experiencing suicidal thoughts, or a business leader, struggling with their own grief while also trying to support a grieving team in the wake of tragedy.
“These stories are not rare. This is the reality of mental health in our community. Every single person got the support they needed that same day. In these stories, it was my phone that rang, but the beauty of For All Seasons is that it doesn’t have to be me who answers the phone. There’s not some special pathway that I carve out for people. Every single person gets same-day access, every single person gets care right away. That’s the power of our 24/7 rape crisis center and Open Access program – same-day, walk-in healthcare that ensures when someone reaches out, they are met with care immediately,” Dorman shares.
“For All Seasons is more than a resource, we are trusted experts who sit side-by-side with our neighbors to provide support in the hardest and most unimaginable moments. And, we continue to be there – until the unimaginable becomes manageable,” she adds.
To donate to For All Seasons “Give With Your Heart” campaign or watch all of the “Give With Your Heart” campaign videos, visit GiveWithYourHeart.org.
For All Seasons provides the highest quality mental health and victim services to children, adults, and families across the Mid-Shore and throughout the state of Maryland. Services are offered in both English and Spanish and include therapy, psychiatry, victim advocacy, 24-hour crisis hotlines, outreach, and community education. For information about For All Seasons walk-in hours, contact For All Seasons at 410-822-1018 or visit ForAllSeasonsInc.org.