Centerstone To Host A Safe Zone Training Event In December

WEST FRANKFORT, Ill. (November 23, 2020) – Centerstone, a national leader in behavioral health care, will host a free, online Safe Zone Training event on Friday, December 4 from 9-11 a.m.

The training will give participants opportunity to learn about LGBTQ+ identities, gender, and sexual equality, and examine prejudice, assumptions and privilege.

The training will be held on Zoom and is free to all participants. CEUs will be available.

This training’s presenter will be Jessica Smiley, MSW, LCSW. Smiley is employed at Heritage Behavioral Health Center and is the Director of Youth Ministries at Community United Church of Christ in Champaign. Smiley worked in direct service and leadership capacities for more than 20 years supporting youth and families in social services, foster care, and early childhood service. She is a teen, youth, and adult mental health first aid instructor and has received a certification in Traumatic Stress Studies from the Trauma Center.

In December, Centerstone announced that it had received a $2.1 million, six-year grant from the Illinois Children’s Healthcare Foundation (ILCHF) to improve the mental health of children and communities throughout Southern Illinois.

The ILCHF initiative, titled “Children’s Mental Health Initiative 2.0,” enabled Centerstone to create a “system of care” that comprehensively supports child and family mental health. The “system of care” that Centerstone has created is “Building Compassionate Communities” (BCC).

“The vision of BCC is to strengthen child and family resilience through a trauma-informed system of care by addressing community compassion and wellness, creating more prevention services, improving access to mental health care, increasing resiliency, and enhancing the overall mental health service array,” said Niki Grajewski, Clinical Manager at Centerstone.

“We believe that strengthening the community through awareness and learning opportunities strengthens the mental health system overall,” said Grajewski. “We will continue to offer education and innovative approaches to strengths-based and trauma-informed care that will benefit the overall system.”

For more information, contact Zachary Schumacher at zachary.schumacher@centerstone.org. To register, contact Smiley at jsmiley@heritagenet.org.

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