Mental Health Jacksonville
What we believe and how we can help
Our health is about our overall physical and mental wellbeing. Our emotional, psychological, and social wellbeing is just as important as our physical health and they all impact one another. At Here Tomorrow, we offer a unique solution, a different approach, and we’re the pathway to you living successfully in recovery. When it comes to mental health in the Jacksonville communities, Here Tomorrow has you covered.
Here Tomorrow is a mental health collaborative in Neptune Beach, Florida. We are a unique solution and a different approach to mental healthcare. We offer same day services either by walk-in or you can make an appointment on our website. (Click Here).
Joe Kenney
"If Here Tomorrow can ensure that one son, one father, one brother, or one sister is here with us tomorrow, it will all be worth it.”
Here Tomorrow Mental Health Jacksonville
I am Jeff Yalden, the director of education and community outreach for Here Tomorrow. On behalf of everyone at Here Tomorrow, I would like to personally welcome you to a brief overview of our core service model and mission. This presentation is interactive, so please click on any of the circles you choose and get the information you’re looking for.
Let’s get started!
Here Tomorrow’s Service Model
We have created a service for people and family members in Duval and St. Johns counties. We might be located in Neptune Beach, but we serve mental health in all of Jacksonville. The service model we’ve created has never existed before.
Hey, nothing changes if nothing changes, right? Well, we are changing the trend and making mental healthcare acceptable and accessible.
At Here Tomorrow, we are real people helping real people. So, what we are looking for are people who are thinking about seeking professional help for mental health conditions that they might feel are unmanageable or they’re having feelings of hopelessness. If there is any element of hopelessness and these feelings are getting in the way of you, a family member, or someone you know, and them living the life they want, Here Tomorrow is who you should be reaching out to today. (Contact us).
Did you know, nationally, on average, from the time a person makes an appointment to the time they walk into that appointment it is on average 33 days. With us, we offer walk-in service, and you can make appointments on our website. Within 1-3 days we can get you from the crisis to the help you are looking for. The services we offer are free.
We have created a new way for people to receive the help they need, when they need it, and where they need it.
We use different language as well. We don’t like the stigma associated to mental health and we’re aiming at changing that, but more importantly, we have created an environment for you where you feel safe, have support, non-judgmental, and relaxed. We are using normal, non-intimidating, non-stigma associated language for our “friends.”
Example: Instead of clients, we have friends. We do not have a waiting room; we have a welcome room. We do not have consultation rooms; we have conversation rooms. We are not an office, practice, or center, we are a meeting place.
A Unique and Different Approach to Mental Healthcare
Our TEAM is largely made up of Certified Peer Recovery Specialists. We like to say, we are Real People HELPING Real People. We’re friends helping friends, right.
What really makes us unique is how we engage with our friends. From the initial contact to our follow-up check ins. With the permission from our friends, we follow up on days 3, 7, 30, 60, 90, 180, 365. However, that isn’t all. Our friends follow-up with their peer support specialists quite often and we welcome that. Our core mission is that we are always in contact with our friends and family members because we know having someone in your corner can make all the difference.
Mental health conditions are typically chronic conditions that require management over time. Having support and encouragement from someone who speaks the language of the heart because they have been there can mean life and hope in the face of hopelessness.
Peer Support Specialists can help navigate the system, connect our friends to resources, and show our support. I like to say, “While the going gets tough, you don’t have to go it alone.”
SAMHSA says, “Peer support workers are people who have been successful in the recovery process who help others experiencing similar situations. Through shared understanding, respect, and mutual empowerment, peer support workers help people become and stay engaged in the recovery process and reduce the likelihood of relapse. Peer support services can effectively extend the reach of treatment beyond the clinical setting into the everyday environment of those seeking a successful, sustained recovery process.” (Who are Peer Workers 2020)
Peer Support Specialists know the importance of helping our friends talk it out. If you do not talk it out, you will act it out and we want to teach our friends to act it out in a positive way, working towards healthy coping skills and living in recovery. We are great at compassionate listening and being present with you in the moment where you need us most.
Here Tomorrow: Community Outreach
Peer Specialists in Jacksonville. Peer Recovery Support is evidence-based (Evidence for Peer Support 2018) and has shown to produce better outcomes in mental health. Additionally, it is cost-effective and cost saving.
Studies have shown substantial reductions in average inpatient days for people receiving Peer Support. One company noted in the literature showed an average of 80.5 percent reduction of inpatient days, and a 32% reduction of involuntary hospitalizations for people receiving Peer Support services.
Here Tomorrow is placing our peer support professionals in emergency rooms, psychiatric units, primary care offices, schools, and will be available for zoom calls, walk-ins, phone calls and immediate response situations.
Lastly, we want to get out to our schools, places of worship, places of employment and community organizations to provide motivational mental health talks, education, and increase awareness so that we can all work together to keep one another safe.
It is okay to not be okay, but when you are not doing okay, we want people to know they are not alone, and they have a safe place to go where they will be supported and can get the help they need.
Education
Prior to my work with Here Tomorrow, I spent 30 years traveling the world – literally 49 countries and 50 states consulting and speaking on mental health and suicide prevention.
I’ve been a TEDx Speaker, written four best-selling books, and spent 30 years teaching and consulting on mental health and suicide prevention.
I’d like to share and inspire our community partners, businesses, and schools. It’s all about normalizing the conversation and getting people comfortable being uncomfortable talking mental health.
So, if you’re looking for a mental health speaker in the Jacksonville area, please reach out to us. I can talk about mental health awareness, the importance of self-care, or work with anyone to facilitate a training, please reach out to us at Here Tomorrow. You can email me personally.
Here Tomorrow: Collaboration with Community Partners
We are all in this together. It takes a village to raise a child, remember we used to say that? Well, it takes all of us to work together to give hope, prevent suicides, and to let people know that it’s okay to not be okay, but it’s also okay to ask for help. Together we achieve more and with all of us working together we can make a difference.
We are part of the problem or the solution, right? Here Tomorrow is facing mental health and suicide prevention in Jacksonville head on. Let’s all be part of the solution.
So, if you’re a community partner and we’re not working together, let’s change that right away. Reach out to us at hello@heretomorrow.org or call us 904-372-9087.
Here Tomorrow . . . A Mental Health Collaboration
We have a unique solution, a different approach to mental healthcare, but it’s working.
We are not a healthcare provider, but we collaborate with community organizations where we can get a person in crisis the help they need immediately. Our team is utilized of Peer Support Professionals who are certified by the state of Florida, Nationally, and Internationally Certified Peer Recovery Support Professionals. We also provide FREE education and awareness campaigns in the community – schools, businesses, and other community organizations. You can count on us to be there when you need us and we can help in the moment of crisis with support and faster services.
Mental Health Support
Hey, this is what everyone wants, right? Support. Well, we want to reach those people who are thinking they may need help but have not made the decision to seek help.
What about all those people who have recognized they are feeling depressed or hopeless or are having suicidal thoughts and have decided to seek help, but cannot afford it or do not have transportation to get there or do not have the emotional support they need to take that next step?
What about the family members who know their loved one is in serious need of help or who feel too afraid to ask their loved one, “Hey, are you thinking about hurting yourself?” Or, even if the family member or friend doesn’t know what to say, but wants to help their loved one? We can help.
Consider those love ones who have refused to acknowledge depression, anxiety, being overwhelmed, feelings of being a lone or a burden, or perhaps, substance use is impairing their ability to function normally and engage in everyday activities?
These are the members of the Jacksonville mental health community we want to stand beside and let them know they are not alone, that recovery is possible. Real friends helping real friends.
Our service model involves an initial virtual or in-person contact and then over the next year we will follow up and check in with our friends and family members over the course of the following year. With permission, we follow up days 3, 7, 30, 90, 180, 365. We are always in contact with our friends and family members because we know having someone in your corner can make all the difference.
It does not matter if we link you with therapy at our first meeting or if you decide to go a different route, we are going to stay in touch with you over the course of one year.
Whether you are a friend or a family member with a loved one you are worried about, we are going to stay in touch by checking in with you days 3, 7, 30, 90, 180, and 365. Oh, and you can call us anytime.
We can assist financially with outpatient treatment if affordability is a barrier to accessing care.
Our Peer Support Specialists can help you create an action plan to get you where you want to go.
We would love for you to join us for our Mental Health Hydration Support Group that meets Monday evenings at Here Tomorrow.
Partners
Well, it takes a community of partners to transform our community into a place where mental health care is acceptable and accessible, right?
Do you believe that everyone in our community should have a place to turn for help and support in a mental health crisis?
Do you believe that together we can normalize the conversation about mental health?
Do you believe like us, that “everyone wins when we achieve our vision that all community members in need can access mental healthcare and live full, meaningful lives”?
If you answered yes, please join us as a partner. Where do you fit? There is a place for you.
Identification Collaborator: a person or organization who helps to identify someone who is at risk or feeling hopeless.
Friend: a person who receives crisis support or assistance from the Here Tomorrow team.
Family Member: a family member who receives support or assistance from the Here Tomorrow team.
Helping Collaborator: mental health practitioner or social service organization providing care or services to our friends and families.
Volunteer: a person who commits a resource known as time to the mission of Here Tomorrow.
Supporter: a person who commits a resource known as treasure to the mission of Here Tomorrow.
Messenger: a person who shares the message of Here Tomorrow
“It’s ok not to be ok; it’s also ok to ask for help.”
Remember, we are not a mental healthcare provider. We have partnerships for that. But we fill the gap, we follow-up, and we give our friends the support and time they need to continue the journey and succeed.
History
Six years ago, a group of concerned citizens living in the Jacksonville Beaches communities came together with the goal of normalizing the conversation around mental health.
One of those people is Pastor Jerry Sweat of Beaches Church. The group became known as True North Mental Health Collaborative and began educating the community and bringing people together for conversation about mental health.
Joe Kenney’s connection to the mission of Here Tomorrow stems from his family’s personal loss. On April 19, 2019, he lost his son Gary, age 30, to suicide. Prior to Gary’s death, Joe did everything he could to help Gary, who was battling severe depression. When he and his son needed help the most, Joe encountered a healthcare system that was not equipped to advise him or help him keep Gary safe.
On the day of Gary’s funeral Joe made a decision. He decided to create something that did not exist before, an entity designed to be there for people who are feeling hopeless and families that have no place to turn to for help.
Joe and Jerry decided to join forces, assembled a Board of Directors, and hired an executive director in August of 2020.
We changed our name to Here Tomorrow because in captures our unwavering mission and heartfelt wish for every person and family in our community.
Our website launched on Christmas Eve 2020 and we opened our doors to the community in January 2021.
Joe, our chief benefactor and board president, said,Here
References Listed:
“Who Are Peer Workers.” SAMHSA, SAMHSA, 16 Apr. 2020, www.samhsa.gov/brss-tacs/recovery-support-tools/peers.
Mental Health America. (2018, May). Evidence of Peer Support.