RoShawn’s Gratitude for Receiving Mental Health Support in His Own Community.
“Mental health is something we need to take more seriously in the United States, especially in Chicago,” RoShawn explained. “With all the trauma that is going on, even in day-to-day life with murders, poverty, Covid, even the kids being out of school e-learning. It’s a lot of people that just need help and somebody to talk to.”
For 31-year old RoShawn Jones, seeking mental health support was a matter of necessity. After receiving a recommendation from the public aid office, RoShawn reached out to IMAN’s Behavioral Health Center for a fresh perspective and to find an alternative solution to alleviate the troubles and tension he was navigating through. With IMAN, RoShawn found a reason to feel gratitude.
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“I felt like IMAN was the best situation for me because I live in the neighborhood… The [first] session was amazing, it was great to be working with the counselor that they gave me. It gave me a different perspective than what I was looking for,” said RoShawn.
“I was used to seeing certain things how I would see them and [after speaking to my counselor], I started taking steps to think about the future before I did something, like ‘What’s the end goal of it? Is it really worth it?’ If somebody honks your car and takes you out of the way, is it really worth it to get out of the car and fight them or cause an accident?’ No, it’s not really worth it.”
Through de-escalation practices and coping skills, RoShawn was able to learn cognitive behavioral therapy techniques that aided him in remaining reposed and at ease. RoShawn explains how grateful he is to have these new exercises in avoiding previous behaviors: “I started thinking [preventatively] before I did something like ‘What’s the end goal of it? Is it really worth it? If somebody honks at your car and takes you out of the way, is it really worth it to get out of the car and fight them or cause an accident?’ Instead It’ll be like ten steps: squeeze and grab your first, breathe-in, breathe out… You know, these types of things. It took my counselor showing me in order for me to understand there’s better ways you can go about these situations.” More than the exercises, however, it was the judgment-free zone that ultimately made RoShawn feel the most gratitude for his therapist-patient alliance.
“One thing about being at IMAN is that everything is confidential. With IMAN, whatever you say here, stays here. I think about it like this: nobody knows me here. I can be myself and I can tell [my counselor] like, ‘Hey, I did something I wasn’t supposed to do,’ and they’re not gonna judge you.”
At IMAN, we work everyday to combat the cycles of poverty and violence that have proliferated from decades of economic disinvestment in our communities.
