Mental Health Awareness Month: Hope & Healing at Rapha
May is mental health awareness month. One of Rapha’s goals is to empower survivors of trauma with resources for mental health. In Joplin, MO, where Rapha is headquartered, we provide mental health counseling and community education and support through the Hope and Healing Center, established in 2020. The mission of the Hope and Healing center is to provide trauma-focused therapy for child, teen, and adult survivors of a variety of traumas, including violence, sexual abuse, and trafficking in order to promote lifelong hope and healing. Therapists at the Hope and Healing Center create individualized treatment plans to help clients heal from trauma, develop healthy coping skills, and set the foundation for a bright future.
In the aftermath of Covid-19, mental health challenges are devastatingly common. Many communities have very few resources available to meet rapidly increasing mental health needs. Negative psychological triggers ran parallel to the global pandemic for everyone, manifesting in different symptoms - all with potentially detrimental effects to an individual’s long-term mental health. These unprecedented stressors included financial strain, isolation, loss, grief, and a prolonged inducement of fear and anxiety throughout lockdowns, health risks, and unpredictability. Individuals and families who have already experienced trauma are especially vulnerable to both complicated and compounding grief, which occurs when their unaddressed trauma continues to accumulate without mental health intervention. This is the case for the majority of clients at the Hope and Healing Center who have approached our therapists with previous mental health concerns. The results of compounding grief are not only a downward mental and emotional spiral, but also can take a physical toll with consequences in adults’ personal and professional lives. In the case of children, grief during their developmental years affects their home lives as well as performance in school, ability to form healthy attachments, and even has the potential to stunt their emotional maturity.
To successfully navigate the transition to a “new normal” after Covid-19, coping skills provided by trauma-informed counselors are needed, as well as continuous monitoring throughout the process of grief that differs for each child and adult. Rapha’s Hope and Healing Center is committed to offering these resources to serve the Joplin community and fight human trafficking, abuse, and sexual exploitation by investing in people through our mental health services.
These services are scarce in Southwest Missouri, and Rapha is excited to work alongside other local organizations to fill the need. Investing in people- especially those who have already experienced trauma- is the best way to prevent and combat human trafficking in any community.
