Tri-County Mental Health Services, Inc.Offering Hope…

Behavioral Health Services for the Kansas City Northland community. Prevention, assessment and treatment services for individuals and families throughout Clay, Platte and Ray counties
[Firstname]: Here's the latest information from Tri-County Mental Health Services. If you have any questions, please feel free to give me a call on my direct line at (816) 877-0468.


Tom Cranshaw, Tri-County CEO

Mental Health Care Critical to Metro Area—It's not just Tri-County. A wide range of area leaders sees mental health impacting everything from law enforcement to family health. Read More.

Tri-County Continues to Improve—TCMHS has several initiatives under way to make sure its services as as good as possible. Several impact Northland residents in many ways. Read More.

Employee Honor Has Special Meaning—Tri-County's Employee of the Quarter Award honors TCMHS workers who go above and beyond. The latest winner has an even greater story. Read More.

Beat the Winter Blues: Volunteer!—Tri-County recommends volunteering—even in small doses—to beat the winter blues. A free workshop in March tells how. Read More.

Meetings for Older Adults Expand— It seems as if every month Tri-County's offerings for older adults and their friends expand. Read More.

Local Students Attend Leaderhip Workshop—Local students attended a day-long advocacy and leadership workshop on Feb. 20 focused on tobacco use prevention. Read More and see the Photo Gallery.

Prevention Seminar—The community is invited to participate in a free half-day Prevention Conference from 8:00 a.m. to noon on Feb. 27 at the Pleasant Valley Baptist Church. The conference workshops will follow a complimentary breakfast honoring the volunteers of the Northland Coalition, who, along with Tri-County Mental Health Services, Inc., is sponsoring the event. Read More.

Coalition Gala A Big Success—Dick Brown, well-known actor and former assistant professor of communication at William Jewell College, was the keynote speaker at the Northland Coalition’s First Ever Gala Feb. 6. Read More.

In Brief:

Tri-County Mental Health Services continues to monitor discussions of the state budget within the context of two areas: economic pressure on people in the community, and economic pressure on Tri-County and its services.

We know these challenging economic times are causing stress, anxiety and depression from loss of jobs and fears about financial problems. The financial issues also bring increasing calls to our intake workers seeking assistance with their growing mental disorders.

These same financial pressures on the state budget cause decision-makers to look for budget cuts including possible reductions in community-based mental health services. Because mental stresses increase in difficult economic times, all stakeholders are encouraged to be supportive of a "do no harm" strategy with public policy-makers.

Years of experience have shown that community-based mental health programs are the most cost-effective way to treat mental disorders. Failure to treat disorders in the community results in increased utilization of more expensive modalities like clogged emergency departments, expensive acute care beds and jails. Please help reinforce the importance of community-based mental health services and programs!

The United Way of Greater Kansas City granted Tri-County Mental Health Services agency certification. This qualifies Tri-County to apply for United Way funding in 2009, 2010, and 2011. Significantly, there were no areas of non-compliance.

Meetings at TCMHS

Family Support Group: 6 to 7:30 p.m. the first Wednesday of each month in Room 140 of the Tri-County’s offices. Monthly speakers on relevant topics.

Northland Older Adult Support Group for 60 and older: 3:30 p.m. each Monday, Englewood Vista, 5700 N Main, Gladstone. Weekly topics and a chance to talk.

Tri-County Board of Directors: 4:30 p.m., fourth Monday of each month, Room 140 Tri-County offices.

Aging and Mental Health Coalition of Kansas City North: 1:30-3:30 p.m., fourth Thursday of each month, second floor conference room, Tri-County. Geared to speakers and information for service providers and those interested in the older adult community of the Northland.

Tri-County Older Adult Services provides ongoing screening and other services. For more information, contact Sally King, LCSW, at (816) 877-0453.

More Tri-County meeting news is always available at www.tri-countymhs.org/news/events.htm
Tri-County Mental Health Services,
3100 NE 83rd St., Suite 1001, Kansas City, MO 64119-9998 • Telephone: (816) 468-0400
www.tri-countymhs.org • 24-Hour Emergency Service Crisis Line 1-888-279-8188
You have been sent this e-mail because of your previous interest and involvement with Tri-County Mental Health Services. To be removed from this list, simply reply to this e-mail and place the word "unsubscribe" in the subject.

To be added or to add a name to our list, visit this page on our Web site. Your e-mail is not sold or shared and is used only for delivery of our quarterly newsletter.