Debb Pitel is the founder of No One Stands Alone – a non-profit in support of mental health. What do we do here? In a nutshell, we research local, first contact mental health agencies and compile them into a booklet that we make available to our communities, free for the taking, in many locations where you can grab one and go. These booklets have a plethora of good information to help those who need mental health help and don’t know where to turn.
Debb knows the frustration of not being able to easily find help when someone is struggling. Over 20 years ago, she lost a son to suicide, and since then, she has been an advocate for mental health. When, after years of talking to agencies about compiling a community resource book and not getting a lot of support to get it off the ground, she decided to tackle it herself.
No one else was willing to do the research and put together all local resources in one book. And now, No One Stands Alone exists, printing and distributing 10’s of thousands of copies of the No One Stands Alone Guide to Mental Health Resources throughout local communities in Lambton and Chatham-Kent.
Even our government recognizes the need for easily accessible mental health care, as seen by the publications they’ve set out recently.
Presently, we receive no provincial funding to do this. We count on the generosity of sponsorships and donations to be able to keep producing our booklets, updating them as new resources become available. Many of our local community governments contribute funding to keep booklets in their areas, but we are still working on funding in other communities, because ALL communities need this resource to be easily accessible. We place them in public places so you never need an appointment to get one. It’s small enough to tuck into a purse or backpack, and easy to give to someone in crisis when you don’t know how else to help them. These booklets have the potential to save lives.
Accurate. Easy to use or share when words aren’t there. We’ve done the research so that you can get the ‘who and how’ instantly.
We welcome sponsorships from local governments, local businesses and from those in the community who want to help us in our mission, connecting community with care. For more information, click here.