May 2023
We are pleased to announce Joe Ernst is the
MHAM Volunteer of the Month!
Joe is a graduating pre-med student at the University of Notre Dame and is originally from New Orleans, Louisiana. He is interested in attending medical school after a gap year working with Partners in Health in Chiapas, Mexico. “Growing up in the urban area of New Orleans, I became cognizant of socioeconomic inequities, and, as I became interested in health and wellness, I started seeing these inequities in terms of healthcare and access to healthcare.” Joe attended MHAM’s mental health summits and conferences which brought together a host of community partners and community leaders to create a dialogue between providers and organizations. Joe learned about community resources and different needs in the community.
Joe’s work with MHAM as a University of Notre Dame McNeill Fellow has been significant. In addition to attending our classes and events, Joe translated our website into Spanish, researched funding opportunities, streamlined our evaluations for our Public Education Classes, pulled event evaluation summaries together, and recorded, edited, and posted our event recordings to the MHAM Youtube Channel.
“My participation in MHAM events has given me the opportunity to hear the experiences and needs of people in our community. I have learned much more about mental health conditions, trauma-informed care, the experiences of POC in medicine, the experiences of the LGTBQ+ community, as well as addiction and mental health conditions during the perinatal period. I will carry the awareness of these experiences and issues with me as I continue down the path of becoming a physician, and I hope that this awareness will ensure that I can respond more readily and holistically to both the bodily and emotional needs of patients. I want to thank Lisa Kelly for coordinating my volunteering and enabling me to help out this wonderful organization. Her dedication, service, and ambition in building and maintaining this organization has inspired me to continue this kind of work in the future.”
We are grateful for the many ways Joe contributed to MHAM this year and will miss him!
Check out the MHAM website HERE!
Interested in volunteer opportunities?
Send us an email: mha.michiana@gmail.com
We are grateful to receive financial support from:
Beacon Community Impact
Community Foundation of St. Joseph County
Community Foundation of Elkhart County
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