(CBS DETROIT) — A new mental health resource is making its way to underserved communities.
Honor First is a mental health service for telecare.
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The organization is expanding to connect with rural communities, following recent mass shootings that shook the country.
“What we’ve done with Honor First, we’ve created a program where more than 75 mental health providers actually take their time and actually go to these remote areas so they can reach people who need help and support,” said Dr. Jason Proctor, CEO of Honor First.
Proctor leads the initiative to create crisis prevention programs through art therapy, medicine, and counseling.
†Crises like school shootings and shopping mall shootings and suicides and so on, because no one is addressing the real root of the problem,” Proctor said.
According to the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, 65% of non-metropolitan counties do not have psychiatrists.
A 2021 U.S. Department of Agriculture report found that 1.8 million people live in remote areas in Michigan.
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“Unfortunately, especially now that gasoline prices are in place, they can’t afford to drive an hour to see a psychiatrist,” Proctor said.
“They need help within their community.”
Honor First offers personal and virtual services.
The group’s mission is to end the stigma associated with mental health issues.
†The lack of resources makes people feel abandoned,’ says Proctor.
“When you go to rural communities, it takes so much. They have the same tensions and problems that we all have, but they don’t have the resources to solve those problems.”
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