Madison Cares continues mental health outreach

It’s something many people struggle with: depression, anxiety, and even suicidal thoughts.

“The quicker we can intervene, the quicker we can prevent things down the road,” said Rick Croft, Program Director of Madison Cares

Which is why, Madison Cares, an arm of the Madison School District, is educating people on how they can help teens and youth during difficult times.

“Each day you need to help them deal with that and some days are better than other days,” said Connie Jeppesen, a parent with kids that have anxiety and depression.

“We’re looking for changes, something that’s different now then it was before,” said Croft.

With limited mental health resources across the west, Madison Cares hosts trainings, such as the Youth Mental Health First Aid Training and Madison Middle School this week.

The success of the program is largely attributed to the amount of grant money they’ve received over the years. Six years ago they received an $8.9 million grant, and just this last spring- a $4 million expansion grant.

“I like to think we were highly considered for that expansion grant because of the quality of work that we’ve been doing,” said Croft.

Their work is inspiring several BYU-I students to get involved and help out with the cause as well.

“Some kids have mental health issues and I want to be prepared for that,” said Taylor Richardson, a social work student at BYU-Idaho.

“I’m most concerned about the future of mental health.. With the perception,”said Nichole Berg, a BYU-I psychology student.

For the last six years, Madison Cares has seen a huge growth with how they’ve been able to reach out to the community.

“We made 1920 home visits last year,”said Croft, who also says this a huge feat considering six years ago the district wasn’t visiting any families.

The program is one of the only mental health resource programs in eastern Idaho. When Madison Cares received their first grant, they were one of only two districts in the nation to do so.

If you’re interested in attending a Youth Mental Health First-Aid training this fall, the dates are as follows:

October 17th, Saturday 9-5

October 27 & 28, Tuesday and Wednesday 4:30-8:30

November 14th, Saturday 9-5pm

November 17 & 18 Tuesday and Wednesday 4:30-8:30

The training last eight hours and attendees must be there for the entire time to get certified.

Madison Cares hosts several community outreach events throughout the year.