Taking the sigma from mental health needs.

05/23/25 Press Democrat / Close to Home
By Madeleine Keegan O’Connell, YWCA Sonoma County - Chief Executive Officer

“Mom! Do we have a bucket?”, shouted my teenage son from the next room. “Yes, look in the garage, I responded. “Ok, thanks, and we’re out of ice, just so you know.” he replied. This brief exchange piqued my interest and prompted me to investigate. If you have teenagers yourself or spend any amount of time on social media, you may already know where I’m going with this. It seems that students at USC, (no, not that one) the University of South Carolina introduced the #SpeakYourMIND Ice Bucket Challenge on Instagram in March of this year. The campaign raises awareness for mental health and yes, it landed with my boys here in Santa Rosa with a challenge from within their local friend group. Inspired by the original Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS, this recent campaign focuses on breaking the stigma around mental health which caught my attention. May is Mental Health Awareness Month.

I’m with YWCA Sonoma County, our community’s vital and singular provider of domestic violence services. You know us from our 24/7 DV crisis hotline (546-1234) and our confidential Safe House shelter, a refuge for local families who experience violence in the place where we all should feel the safest, inside our own homes. What you may not know is that for years YWCA has served the needs of local families with life-saving mental health services.

For a lot of people, mental health struggles stem from traumatic experiences and associated shame a person can carry with them for many years. Experiences such as abuse, neglect and domestic violence that happened in the past can have a lasting impact on a person for years to come. Maybe no one else saw it, maybe no one believed it happened. But it's there, shaping how someone sees the world, how they trust others, and how they see themselves. Often this pain is carried into their relationships, their parenting, and their families. Children living in homes where love and fear live side by side can result in generations of us carrying the weight of unresolved pain and trauma.

YWCA Sonoma County is an important ally to survivors of trauma offering specialized short and long-term therapy services to help them gain an understanding of trauma and develop healthy strategies to cope with life stressors. As a result, participants learn to navigate adversity in positive ways, improve well-being and minimize disruption to daily functioning.

At YWCA Sonoma County, we believe that healing begins with conversation. Last year, we served 267 individuals in our Counseling Support Services 191 adults (86 adults who attended 1,236 individual/family sessions) and 76 children (54 children attended 620 individual/family sessions and 31 children who attended 768 Social Emotional Learning group sessions.) We are accepting new clients and offer sliding scale rates. YWCA Sonoma County is MediCal approved.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, a time to take concrete steps to support mental health. Taking action means something different to each of us. It may mean you will call to make an appointment with a therapist yourself or encourage a friend to call YWCA’s hotline so we may care for their unique needs. I invite you to take action by visiting ywcasc.org to learn more about our vital role in Sonoma County. YWCA is grounded in empowering people to prioritize their own mental wellbeing and to offer support to others. No ice or bucket required.

Madeleine Keegan O’Connell is CEO of YWCA Sonoma County