Mr. Charlie Davis was nominated as Unison’s Regional Community Collaborative (RCC) Champion of the year!

The Region 5 office part of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities hold an annual Regional Community Collaborative celebration every year in Savannah with the 4 Community Service Board (CSB) Providers in Region 5. Each CSB reviews their goals, needs and accomplishments for the year along with nominating someone from the community or collaborative that participates in the RCC meetings and goes above and beyond in their work in facilitating the RCC mission. Charlie was the natural choice this year because he was instrumental in helping the collaborative move forward and accomplish our goals.

Specifically, Charlie was an advocate and leader for both the Douglas Stepping Stones group and the mental health fair that was held in Douglas on May 18, 2019. Charlie and his staff helped organize the event and provided resources for the fair such as the location free of charge and the food. He and his staff also worked the day of the event, assisted with publicity, found sponsors for the event and distributed flyers to ensure the event was a success. Charlie attends all of our RCC meetings and is very involved and passionate about making the citizens of Douglas aware of the mental health and substance abuse services that are available to them and working to make those services better for them. Unison BH has been looking at ways to grow and expand services in Douglas and Charlie has been instrumental in moving that project forward with looking at resources the City has available.

Unison was honored to nominated Charlie for this award to recognize all his hard work and efforts in with the homeless project, the mental health fair and his efforts to help Unison reduce the stigma of mental health and substance abuse disorders and grow services for the Douglas community.

On Tuesday, August 6th, we celebrated the opening of our NEW Ware Day Services Facility with an Open House and Ribbon Cutting with the Waycross-Ware County Chamber of Commerce. Clients played music, showed off artwork, shared stories, and met with several community leaders who came to support the event. We are thankful for those who attended and are appreciative of our partnership with our local Chamber. The new facility is located at 506 Brunel St. in Waycross and is open Monday – Friday 8am-5pm for Adult Mental Health peer support, supportive employment, group therapy, and more.

Source: EIS Quarterly Report, DBHDD - Office of Addictive Disease

May is Mental Health Awareness Month! To spread awareness in the community, Unison Behavioral Health has partnered with several establishments by distributing big green bows to display on their doors and windows. In the United States, almost half of adults will experience a mental illness in their lifetime. Half of all mental disorders begin by age 14; Three quarters begin by age 24. In the US, only 41% of the people who had a mental illness in the past year received professional health care or other services. Unison’s goal for Mental Health Awareness Month is to decrease the stigma surrounding mental illness and encourage those suffering to seek professional treatment & services. For more information about our services, please call us at 1-800-342-8168.

Pictured: Danielle Reid, Waycross Fire Chief David Eddins, Natasha Herrin, Allie Dixon

Pictured: Natasha Herrin, Danielle Reid, Waycross Police Chief Tony Tanner

The 1st Annual Community Mental Health Fair was held on Saturday, May 18th at the Central Square Complex Gym in downtown Douglas, GA. We are thrilled to have had over 30 exhibitors who provided a variety of excellent resources regarding mental health services to over 100 attendees! The City of Douglas provided everyone with free hotdogs, chips, and popcorn, and 22 lucky winners walked away with awesome door prizes!! We would like to send out a huge thank you to our sponsors: Premium Waters Inc., McCrae Coca-Cola, Broadcast South LLC., The City of Douglas, Compassionate Behavioral Health, Coastal Harbor Health System, Diversified Resources, Greenleaf, Magnolia House, Smile Doctors, and S. GA Area Agency on Aging. We are already looking forward to next year’s event!