10.2.2023 Candlelight Vigil for Mental Health Awareness

um and we can just say a moment of silence um to thank to thank everyone that's here tonight and the people that couldn't make it um so if we could just a few minutes of um a moment of silence please

okay thank you um I guess speaker tonight um a wonderful young woman her name is Dr Gloria staddle as I'm saying it correctly Statler and she's going to talk tonight a few minutes she's a guest speaker please come up thank you for having me

ladies and gentlemen distinguished guests today I stand before you as an educator and a community advocate and also as a representative to children in the care of the Department of Children and Family Services it is my privilege to address the critical issue of Mental Health a matter that permeates every faucet of our society as an educator I'm entrusted with nurturing young minds and I can

attest to the fact that mental illness knows no age limit I see it in the classrooms and the eyes of the children that I teach it manifests in their struggles to concentrate their mood swings and their withdrawal from social interactions mental health is a silent battle one that can significantly impede their ability to learn and grow but my role extends beyond the classroom as a community advocate

I have witnessed the effects of mental illness within our neighborhoods it touches the lives of our friends our families and our neighbors it is a Relentless adversary often hidden behind closed doors yet it casts a long Shadow over the well-being of our communities it's imperative that we acknowledge its presence and work together to break the stigma surrounding Mental Health additionally my responsibilities as an

advocate and a representative for children under the care of the Department of Children and Family Services brings me face to face with the profound impact of mental illness on some of our most vulnerable members of society children children who have faced adversity and Trauma beyond their years these children carry the scars of their experiences often manifesting as mental health challenges

as their Advocate I see firsthand the urgent need for a comprehensive support system and services to address their mental health needs ladies and gentlemen mental illness is not an isolated issue it is interwoven into the fabric of our society as an educator Community Advocate and representative we I have a moral obligation to address this pressing concern of Mental Health we must Foster an environment where

Advocates and representatives individuals young and old feel safe to seek help and where mental health is regarded with the same importance as physical health to achieve this we must break the silence eliminate the stigma and promote awareness we must advocate for increased access to Mental Health Services both in our schools and within our communities we must strive for a society that

provides and prioritize excuse me mental illness as a fundamental human right and in conclusion let us remember that our roles extend beyond our professional titles we are all stewards of our communities responsible for the well-being of our fellow citizens together we can be the Catalyst for change ensuring that mental health is met with empathy understanding and the support it truly deserves thank you

thank you Gloria before we go on I want to recognize that we haven't we have representative Senator Michael rodericks that came here tonight and representative Fiola representative um Sylvia and of course the mayor of our city mayor Coogan city council Laura Washington City Council Andrew proposal and city council vice president Linda um Anthony Pereira took a little moment there sorry if I missed anybody else and

of course the people that are here with their um tables I say thank you very much okay since 1990 Congress established the first full week of October to be mental health awareness week and it's it's a time where Advocates meet and um they um Advocate they educate our families they educate our public they educate people about mental illness as you know they're each year there are millions of

Americans faced with this reality of living with mental illness however mental illness affects everyone directly or indirectly through families friends co-workers and despite mental health stigma stigma and misunderstanding unfortunately it's worldwide we try to fight no matter what to stop the stigma to get people to talk about it um to educate the families that I help every day for the last 20 I'm not going

to go any further I'll just say 20 years I'll stop at that and I continue to fight not only for my own families that have it my my my two children along with my mother that passed and my late brother John so in their memory I keep it up and keep it up and keep it up until the day I'm gone okay so what happens is that I see people in the community

and what I see them I see what they do I feel that they sometimes need a pat on the back sometimes they they work tirelessly trying to educate families and educate people about Mental Health so what I've done is I have what I call it's the heroine of fight award it's an award that I give out to people in the month of October and may that shows me that they go Far and Beyond whether you

whether you're someone that gets paid whether it's something that you'd volunteer you tirelessly do this so I we have two people um and the first one the first one we have is I've known this young woman for a long long time and first I'm going to talk about her organization the parent Information Network which we call pin apparent information and support program designed for parents and professionals to help

families and children with young adults from the age of 5 to 25 with seriously emotionally behavioral and mental health challenges and the program is funded by the Department of Mental Health administered by bamsey and has been existent for at least over 35 years so tonight we have Catherine Martin is a parent of five adult children who live with mild to serious mental health challenges she earned she learned to

navigate the system and care for the for her own children and went on to share the knowledge and experience with pin's family and that's what we do we we know we know what it's all about and we spread it so I like for Catherine Martin took him up and get this award certificate of recognition the certificate of recognition appreciations is presented to Catherine Martin for your outstanding

commitment dedication in making a difference in the lives of families of children and young adults Nami Bristol County heroin the fight celebrates dignity courage hope and Recovery to people with severe mental illness I congratulate you I know you didn't want it and tonight nice cookies from New Boston Bakery nothing like it you're welcome let's give her a big hand for our next person there is no bio

I'm gonna say it just as it is a man that's walks very Softly through the halls of anywhere a man that has dedicated his life for young children where he worked at Durfee High School and then he was um on the school committee and then he became our mayor of the city of Fall River and he didn't want me to do this this is something I said I make it quick but I figured this this man

like no other mayor has actually no matter what function I have whether it's rain pouring rain you would hear the little tap of feet to come to my event and not only that with the homeless situation we have which we know it's very difficult homelessness is very difficult because between the combination of mental illness and addiction dual diagnose people this man decides that he wants to he wants to do

something he wants to make it better for the city of Fall River he wants to do something to help the people find a place find them something clean it up help them you don't see that much you don't see that that often a man that gives us hot to the city a full-time year no matter what goes on the little part of her feet is coming so tonight I has decided to give the certificate of

recognition the certificate of recognition appreciation is presented to Mayor Paul Coogan for your outstanding commitment dedication in making a difference in the lives of people and families with mental illness in our community Nami Bristol County heroin the fight Awards celebrate in dignity courage hope and recovery for people with severe mental illness I am honored Mr Mayor to give it to you

because I know in your heart you'll never give up go into Corrigan Mental Health and that's another thing not too many people go not too many males went to the car again but he's been there many times and they'll be there many times again so thank you thank you for all your work

and don't forget this tonight do I get to say something you can say something um you know when Brenda called me and told me to come to this thing and I was going to get an award I said no no don't do that to me no I did she started this because you know Brenda she starts yelling at me but I do want to say in my uh 70 years on the planet

at 6-1 220 no one ever said my feet patter I don't really I don't pat her much I kind of Clump along but um I I do want to acknowledge the help that we get in these fights whether on the local level it's um our city councilors who work tirelessly on these issues with us the state delegation across the back I can't ask for any more from Harold Allen and Mike they always stick into the

fight with me and this award should go to all the elected officials whether it's state local or federal to pitch in on this battle because it is uh it's a long-term battle and she is 200 percent right I'm not going anywhere we're going to keep in we're going to keep this fight going for as long as it takes to make Fall River a better place to live for everybody and I really appreciate everyone coming

out tonight this means a lot to me even though I wish it had everyone's name on it uh you ever try to deal with Brenda Venice you know why she gave it to me because she is tough tough tough but I want to thank her and her organization for acknowledging me and I again appreciate everyone coming out this is very very special and thanks again Brenda thank you thank you for all your hard work I will

okay so tonight we we do the ringing of the Bell so we remember we remember the people um in our lives that have passed um either death by Suicide or um just passed I had mental illness so Cindy is going to say the names of the people and then Augie will ring the bell

John Goslin Jonathan Goslin Richard and Harry Barlow Tracy Samuel Bob Michael Michael McNeese Janet Olsen Kenny C Tom f Billy k Manny babosa Jr Susan West Paul B Stephen Wilson Daniel L Smith Wendy Turner Dave Costa Elizabeth White Andre Goodwin Tommy Ryan Whitmore David Sherman Steve Blanchette Kevin Morris Dwayne Parsons Jack Parsons Leanne Claudia Jocelyn and John Souza

a lot of these people I've worked for worked with over the years and unfortunately they're on my shoulder now um and for Cindy I give her a 100 quiet credit because it's her three children um Richard Tracy and Harry that she has lost um so for her to keep up the fight and be a strong advocate for mental health um if it wasn't for Cindy and other people that helped me move on Catherine uh

doing pin for our children um we wouldn't we wouldn't be able to do this um and I I forgot to mention about Andrew and chairs um in the committee of townhouse Clubhouse so he's getting to know um you know about mental health how how it it devastates not only the person that has the illness but it affects the whole family that's involved with it and and maybe someday people will come out

more which since covet they have come out and say I have a mental illness so that they can get help faster because a death through suicide is curable um you know you got to get them and get them the help they need and there was one other person that I met I forgot to mention Lynn Olson Vieira who was the director at Corrigan mental health and now she is the director at Taunton State

um I won't I seen her in New Bedford well I've seen her in Fall River then I was with her a New Bedford and then she came back to Fall River and I was with her in Fall River but it's not the end because I'm on the board a trustees at Taunton State so I'll see her again she ain't got rid of me yet she's in for it so I want to thank

everyone tonight for coming out and and bringing this bringing this thing that's so dear to me mental health and and for Catherine and mayor Coogan to receive that award um I'll be watching people have a nice evening