Medacom College of Owosso Human Services Student Club members at the Mental Health Meets Hip Hip Conference in Chicago, IL. Pictured left to right: Alisabeth Smith, Bryce Hicks, Paige Guthrie, Samantha Pollaski, Jourdan Kaminiecki, and Amy Lake.
Mental Health Meets Hip-Hop is a program that invites Mental Health Professionals into the culture, providing platforms that integrate clinical awareness, advocacy, education and support.They implement the knowledge of mental illness while promoting mental wellness by providing resources to the community and showcasing local artists to denounce the plight of mental illness and deconstruct the stigma behind it.
Human Service Club Advisor Catherine Bailey and Human Services Department Chair Kristina Marshall accompanied HUS students Amy Lake, Bryce Hicks, Paige Guthrie, Alisabeth Smith, Jourdan Kaminiecki, Samantha Pollaski to Chicago for the one-day conference, which enabled students to gain knowledge and insight into both the culture and challenges of mental health.
“Offering our students the opportunity to experience diverse events and opportunities to hear different perspectives is a goal of the Human Services Department,” said Marshall. “The Mental Health Meets Hip-Hop conference was a fantastic opportunity for our students to not only gain invaluable information and insight, but to also shift their perspective.”
While in Chicago, the group also visited the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum. The Hull-House was Chicago’s first social settlement, the private home of Jane Addams, and a place where immigrants of diverse communities gathered to learn, eat, debate and acquire the necessary tools to put down roots in a new county.