ATTENTION ON DECK!
When you are in the service industry as a first responder, military, or work in any other public service role, you know that “Attention on deck!” is a phrase that means business. You better stop what you are doing and pay attention because the information that follows could mean life or death to those who serve or those who are served. I am hearing this warning loud and clear and I am preparing an action plan to address what is coming. Let me explain…
When the rumors of a global pandemic were just beginning (Fall 2018), I was listening to the rumblings from the press and White House increase every day. By January 2019, the fear increased to where the White House was having daily updates on the Covid-19 virus that was spreading throughout Asia and into Europe. Fear turned into hysteria when the first case was reported in the USA. Total chaose broke out over masks, transmission, and hospital unpreparedness, I knew we were headed for a mental health tsunami like I’d never seen before. Now mind you, I am not a spring chicken and have lived through other pandemics of the past, but working in mental health, the pandemic that was building was going to result in a mental health crisis.
I could feel it in my bones and so I began preparing for what I new would happen only months away. I rented another office and began hiring more staff. Sure enough, a few months later businesses began closing and workers were sent home. Our phones began ringing off the hook. Because I preplanned for this situation we were ready with an action plan already in place. Veterans and military families began pouring through our doors. We were the only mental health office in our area who never closed our doors or turned away our clients. Everyone seeking help found help. Families who lost grandparents, parents, and children had a safe haven to share their grief. When therapists began working from home remotely, people could come to our office and see their therapist in person. When therapists went out of business and permanently closed their doors, ours remained open.
Eventually, the waves of the tsunami calmed, the clients got better, and people went back to work. Unfortunately, over the past 5 years we have continued to be available to serve, but the need for our services has decreased resulting in our being forced to close one of the offices opened before the pandemic hit full force.
Now, a new tsunami is gaining momentum and the waves are starting to churn and crash upon the shore. I feel the same rumblings in my gut I had in 2018. This time I need your help to prepare for the next pandemic. This new threat is called DOGE - Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency - and government workers, nonprofits, and military contractors are losing their jobs, their income, their ability to work from home, and fear is causing them emotional distress.
Fear causes people to run, fight, or freeze and many will respond in ways that are dangerous to others or themselves. Threats of self-harm behaviors, alcohol and drug abuse, and suicide are on the rise. Families trying to recover from the pandemic and financial hardships are exhausted with trying to survive in a world that has not been kind to them. On top of this all, natural disasters have completely wiped entire cities off the map of the Earth.
As we prepare for what we all know is coming, won’t you find it in your hearts to share a word of praise for our hard work and dedication and spread the word that we are here for you? Lift us up in prayer and if you can afford to help us financially, please know that 100% of your donation goes to serving those who don’t have the means to get help on their own. Through it all, we are here for you. Won’t you be here for us as well? Please click here and know how much your gift means to us. Your blessings allow us to bless others.