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PROACTIVE ALLIES Inclusion, Equity, Justice
We want to amplify some amazing organizations we consider allies as we continue to grow the Proactive Network in 2023!
Traditional suicide prevention and mental health services are reactive. Like waiting at the edge of a waterfall or building safety nets at the bottom of that waterfall. Proactive Prevention works upstream to disrupt escalation and prevent harm and crisis.
Suicide Prevention is more than a lifeline and clinical treatment.
Comprehensive Mental Health care is about total care for the mind and body. It is about accessibility to food, shelter, and physical security. It works to empower communities and individuals to nurture agency and self-determination.
Proactive Prevention is realized through Inclusion, Equity, and Justice across many intersections. We don't do this alone. TOGETHER WE can save lives!
RYAN SHANNON
Navy Veteran, husband, father, and mental health advocate.
Ryan Shannon is a Navy Veteran, husband, father, and mental health advocate. After enduring multiple injuries in the line of duty, Ryan medically retired from service as an E6 in 2016.
In the civilian world, Ryan faced new challenges while undergoing treatment for his visible injuries. He also had to battle the invisible psychological wounds of service.
After years in and out of hospitals, teams of doctors, and numerous clinicians' offices, Ryan found resources to confront his physical and psychological injuries.
Ryan has become an ardent advocate for proactive prevention by educating and sharing his journey through trauma and healing.
Founded by Chicago native Michelle Thompkins. The Cornerstore is a community-based organization that provides programming working directly with youth in the south and west side of Chicago. Focused on "connecting youth to mental health resources and safe, healing + creative art"
Life Is Work was founded in 2017 to increase the health, safety, and security of transgender and nonbinary individuals in the Chicagoland area.
Support those experiencing homelessness and food insecurity. They deliver a hands-on relationship that provides "resources such as food, tents, heat, blankets, clothing, and hotel stays to our neighbors experiencing homelessness to ensure people survive."
Feeding People Through Plants also helps connect people with employment, mental health resources, addiction treatment, and housing programs. INSTAGRAM
"The mission of the American Indian Center of Chicago (AIC) is to promote fellowship among Indian people of all Tribes living in metropolitan Chicago and to create bonds of understanding and communication between Indians and non-Indians in this city; to advance the general welfare of American Indians into the metropolitan community life; to foster the economic advancement of Indian people; to sustain cultural, artistic, and avocational pursuits; and to perpetuate Indian cultural values."
The Abolition Institute, located in Chicago, Illinois in the United States, was inspired by the groundbreaking CNN expose "Slavery’s Last Stronghold" by John Sutter and the efforts of Mauritanians, both inside and outside their country, to end slavery.
The co-founders of the Abolition Institute are Sean Tenner, a Commissioner of the Illinois Holocaust and Genocide Commission, former leader in the Save Darfur movement – and Bakary Tandia, a leader of Mauritanians in the United States who has received multiple awards for his innovative human rights advocacy work and is a frequent lecturer on global human rights issues.
The organization is dedicated to supporting civil rights and social justice!
Asian Human Services (AHS) has delivered on a singular purpose: to ensure that every immigrant and refugee across Chicagoland has access to personalized support and services necessary to become prosperous members of society.
AHS focuses on culturally comprehensive human services that help people become:
Healthy – with Community Health programs and Behavioral Health counseling.
Educated – through skilled learning programs and a charter school for grades pre-K to 8 that specializes in preparing children to lead in a global world.
Employed – using comprehensive job-related services that place hundreds of job-seekers into full-time and part-time employment every year.