Who supports adults living with mental illness? We all do! It takes a community to make a community. This week dedicated members of our partner agencies visited to see how we can all work better together. We each work with many of the same people and we all want to help. Click through to see who visited and why they came. Gainesville Police Department Meridian Behavioral Healthcare, Inc. Alachua County Crisis Center U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Challenge Enterprises Lutheran Services Florida Florida Department of Children and Families

It is great to see law enforcement officers like Cpl Bill Gough take the time to meet with our Members while they are NOT in crisis. Bill works with Victoria Blass (right) of Meridian Behavioral Health on a co-responder team. Victoria Blass and Cpl. Bill Gough make up the co-responder team that brings a licensed mental health professional to the scene where a crisis may be occurring. Tina Harkness, Jaanel Berrick, and Tia Ingram are taking time to explore additional services for their clients.

Paige Ensor is a dedicated VA Vocational Counselor who helps Veterans with mental illness move forward with their lives. She has personally brought us many Members who come regularly to our program. Hannah Dykehouse is the Project Coordinator for the Alachua County Crisis Center. One of their goals is to help people stay out of crisis. It was great for her to take the time to see the GOC. GOC Member John gave the tour of our facility. We involve our Members in nearly every aspect of running our organization, including our public tours. John is right at home hosting Cpl. Shelly Postle and Meridian’s Elliot Schmidt. Meeting with people who live with chronic mental illness while they are NOT in crisis shows how much these dedicated public servants care about our community.