Jennifer Picone, Independent Health manager corporate wellness, says not only is she a personal advocate for mental health and suicide prevention but as an organization, Independent Health is working really hard with our members, our community and our employer groups to really bring awareness and break that stigma; to be able to talk about mental health and suicide prevention. She says there are so many people who are out there struggling and who delay treatment and are afraid to speak up so we created a landing page on our IndependentHealth.com website with resources and tools that can connect people to get the help they need. They don’t want their members to be afraid to talk about it.
Jennifer is a Yogi, and she takes yoga here at Power Yoga Buffalo and it has helped her personally. She says personally yoga is just a tremendous help when it comes to the mind/body. She also sits on the board of Mental Health Advocates of WNY (MHA). She says it was such a great team effort to come together to really raise awareness for suicide prevention.
There is on average 130 people who die by suicide every day. Jennifer says we want to continue to break the stigma, we want people to be able to speak up and get the help that they need so we can reduce that number.
The yogathon is Saturday, September 25th from 2pm to 5pm at the Power Yoga Buffalo studio. Candice Cinquino, Power Yoga Buffalo says they are going to have three different styles of classes because they wanted it to feel really inclusive. She says this is already what we do and it’s so cool to be able to bring it to a wider audience and to connect with two places that are really trying to elevate the awareness of mental health struggles and suicide prevention, and it feels really perfect actually.
Melinda DuBois, mental health advocates of WNY executive director says it’s been an amazing partnership and I think what’s been wonderful is all of us coming together. We all have the same goals and we all know the importance of yoga with mental health but also just being able to move your body in order to shift your energy and to take care of yourself and enhance your wellbeing.
For more information visit Independenthealth.com/donation-class-for-suicide-prevention/
