OKMULKE, Okv.- Muscogee (Creek) Nation Behavioral Health is providing community resource fairs at different community centers throughout the year. These fairs address and support different mental health needs for tribal citizens.
MCN Behavioral Health Case Manager Kim Morrison (Mvskoke) has been with the department for over two years now, and is currently hosting the community resource fairs monthly. Morrison works under the suicide prevention grant within her department. One of her responsibilities is providing community outreach for Mvskoke citizens.
“Our mission under this grant is to help the citizens with barriers that they may have in their life that can prevent them from leaning toward depression or suicide,” Morrison said.
When organizing the events, Morrison sends out emails to all MCN staff and health departments to see who can appear at the fairs. Some MCN departments that have made appearances at past resource fairs included Victim Services, Behavioral Health and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).
Morrison said citizens have enjoyed seeing departments that provide activities at the fair like MCN Diabetes Prevention. “I feel like our goal has been accomplished as we are able to provide these resources to them and we bring it to the citizens instead of them trying to travel out to Okmulgee,” Morrison said.
Resource fair turnouts depend on the location they are hosted at, or if there is another event happening on the same day. Each fair usually sees 10-12 different MCN departments. Morrison tries to spread out the fairs throughout the community centers across the reservation. However, despite their best efforts to make the fairs accessible to all citizens, obstacles can still arise.
“I feel like the main barrier is transportation,” Morrison said. “I know they can benefit a lot from these resources, but with not having transportation I feel they give up. If we are giving the resources to them, to their community, they will more than likely get the resources that they will need,” Morrison said.
For further information regarding the community resource fairs, or for MCN Community Centers interested in hosting, contact Kim Morrison at 918-758-1910, or by email at kimberly.morrison@creekhealth.org.
