| Name | Jeigh |
|---|---|
| Last Name | Billingy |
| Home Address | 191 Bluegrass Circle Rossville, GA 30741 United States |
| Organization Name | Mysuspire, Inc |
| Describe Your Role In The Organization | I am the founder and Executive Director of Mysuspire, Inc 501c3. |
| Organization Address | 2288 Gunbarrel Rd #165 Ste 154 chattanooga, Tennessee 37421 United States |
| Website | https://mysuspire.org |
| Best Phone Number To Reach You | 4235211978 |
| Alternate Phone Number | 9512051164 |
| Email Address | breathe@mysuspire.org |
| Alternate Email Address | mysuspire@gmail.com |
| Please Describe Your Project In Detail | Hello! We are MySuspire. We’re a mental health and wellness platform and organization on a mission to de-stigmatize mental health through education, awareness and intervention - in creative and empathetic ways designed to help regular people feel they can access mental healthcare. We work with all ages across the lifespan. We primarily focus on low-resource communities that often include: BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, creatives, low Socio-economic Status, and high- trauma communities.We proudly present our flagship program, the Mental Health Fun Fair, free to the community every year. (Check it out at MHFF.FUN). We provide culturally relevant therapy services, mental health awareness, and community education to destigmatize mental health and wellness. Our program has been active since 2019 and growing! In the heart of the pandemic (with very limited resources) - last year alone we held: 350+ Affordable & Culturally Relevant Therapy Sessions (in 2021). We clocked over 600+ administrative hours editing, developing and providing destigmatized mental health media and content. 3+ Years of free community led revolutionary Mental Health education through the Mental Health Fun Fair (mhff.fun). Multiple community partnerships and collaborations using technology, influence and innovation to destigmatize mental health. The average cost of community based mental health sessions is $80. The average cost of a private and focused therapy session is $150. With these numbers and high stigma, the average person does not easily find the need to prioritize focused therapy. MySuspire’s program is a revolutionary awareness campaign funnel that works to both destigmatize Mental Health and Therapy in low-resourced and underserved populations; simultaneously bringing the help to the community in the form of affordable Trauma Informed Therapy sessions, and Group Therapy. Participants can engage and gain meaningful tools and insight through our awareness campaigns and tools that are often free (MHFF, Social Campaigns, Events). Through these soft interactions, the client is brought into an opportunity to further their healing through therapy. The cost for participation is offered at a sliding scale to whatever the client can afford. Meaning, if the client can only afford $10 that is what they pay. The money raised through our awareness campaigns will cover the difference for the therapist and offer the client a full quality session. Our program, due to the changes from the pandemic, is recovering and extending the reach of our destigmatizing campaign. Our flagship event, the MHFF, is also expanding. We are also providing more opportunities for individual therapy. Every member of our original team has had ‘covid’ 2 or more times; which has motivated us, even more,through professional awareness and by personal experience to support our community in this way. With this support, we would triple our number to 1050+ sessions in 1 year within the community. We would also sustainably fully integrate our MHFF and media technology to disseminate very timely, relevant, and sometimes life saving trauma informed mental health awareness programming and destigmatizing campaigns. We would also be able to provide skilled support, jobs and contracts to community members furthering the economic development of skilled labor and public service. The program in a nutshell: Develop and use culturally sensitive and medically relevant digital media to increase buy-in, destigmatize and provide accessible inclusive mental health therapy. The steps we do this through: Create mental health media and digital content (social campaigns, interviews, the Mental Health Fun Fair, webinars…etc). Contract with community artists to design and develop materials. Contract and provide oversight and supervision to community therapists and provide virtual trauma-informed individual therapy sessions to community members who wouldn’t otherwise have access. Add 4 FTE each to manage an aspect of the program and development. A unique and ambitious program with a growing track record to support its intersection of mental health, media, technology, and public service. |
| Please explain how your project meets the requirements of the American Rescue Plan | The Final Rule published by the Department of the Treasury seeks to address the “systemic public health and economic challenges that may have contributed to more severe impacts of the pandemic among low-income communities and people of color.” The program, as shared by the Final Rule, “ will meet behavioral health needs exacerbated by the pandemic and respond to other public health impacts”; “through services that include mental health treatment,” and “outreach to promote access to physical or behavioral health.” This program specifically targets low-resource and traditionally underserved communities who have been disproportionately affected by the Corona-Virus pandemic. These communities have shared an exacerbated increase in depression, anxiety, feelings of hopelessness, and worry. Also, the stay-at-home orders and changes have caused an increase in substance use, maladaptive coping and relationship deterioration. In these communities more deaths per capita were observed. These are all strong components addressed in a robust therapy acumen built to rehabilitate, restore and empower the mental and emotional capacities that affect these activities of daily living. Our program directly addresses these issues through providing both a bridge to and opportunity for an accessible therapy acumen. Even moreso, digital and technological forms of engagement and communication are more prevalent than ever before. The traditional methods of communication and engagement are no longer enough to satiate the growing need of digital connection. The field of therapy and mental health has often been taboo and hidden due to its personal and stigmatized nature. Our program intentionally utilizes the ARP goals of public benefit and infrastructure to create engaging and necessary campaigns promoting healing and access to relevant mental health information. We also provide digital and safe access to the life saving mental health services. Our program makes mental health therapy and destigmatizing media and content completely virtual while still ensuring the engagement is relevant and personal. Reiterating, as a small Not-for-profit organisation, we were hit very hard by the pandemic. Still, we remain committed to recovering and expanding our vital reach into the community for the purpose of mental health and awareness. |
| Where would your project take place? | The project takes place in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Our program is 100% virtually disseminated. We utilize virtual conferencing technology, EHR/ERM systems, and social media platforms to engage and connect with the community. Small teams of 5-7 will meet periodically to create and develop resourcing and content as needed. Majority of our communication and work is remote. |
| How much will your project cost in total? | 3034048 |
| Do you have any matching funding sources from other local governments, private entities, non-profits, or philanthropic entities for your project? | Yes |
| Please describe the source and list amounts of any other funding. | Currently, we have raised $1000, and earned $29,000. Transparently, due to the pandemic, our ability to grow was severely halted. Both in sickness and our team's accesibility. However, we were able to garner this funding and hold impactful sessions, run several virtual campaigns, and host the 3rd annual Mental Health Fun Fair. |
| What portion of the project are you asking the city to fund? | $890,000 as the total for two years. |
| If funded, when would your project start? | April 1, 2022 |
| How long would your project take to complete? | Two years. This includes evaluation and auditing as well as sustainability and impact strategy. |
| What milestones would you use to measure your project’s progress? | The program measures impact in three categories: digital content and media, therapeutic intervention completed (not including attempted), and community feedback/impact. The digital content and media is benchmarked by mental health social media and an awareness campaign. This destigmatizing campaign will seek to increase therapy referrals. That correlation (measuring both SEO and analytics for impact, as well as referrals) is the first bench mark. Consecutively, as the other soft-launch items are released there is a marked increase in referrals. We have seen this with our current programming and in other models. Completed therapeutic intervention measures therapy sessions and groups. This looks like our current 350+ sessions-per-year doubling close to 700 +sessions-per-year or exceeding that number in the first year. These numbers are monitored monthly, quarterly, and yearly. The number would rise close to 1015+ sessions per year by the end of the 2nd year. Community feedback and impact is measured by networking contacts and focus groups. These numbers are followed by a very intentional series of community based focus groups designed to understand, even further, the goals and needs of; the community, its partners and the barriers to access and services. The program covers a large portion of the differences for services in the first 2 years. Ensuring that services are being provided to help lessen the impacts of the Covid -19 pandemic. This program also hosts the 2022 Mental Health Fun Fair, new supportive materials, media and content sources, and a quarterly community group/webinar as milestones of progress. These media and content sources are culturally sensitive, no-cost to participants, and opportunities for building trust and comprehensively reducing the effects of the covid-19 pandemic. This intersection of mental health and media is what makes our organization different from other community mental health agencies or private practices. It is led for the community, by the community, in tangible ways the community can understand and access. Even moreso, as we are able to bring on more staff, another huge milestone is the ability to generate funding within the program itself. We do hope, and estimate, that with some of the recovery overhead and operating costs covered - we can generate a self-sustaining model - as we were growing prior to the pandemic. Our estimated full time goal is $1,517,024. However, we are not at a capacity to raise the difference at this time, and are not able to cite tha |
| How would you ensure accountability and transparency throughout the project lifecycle? | Accountability and transparency are ensured throughout the lifecycle of the project by tangible deliverables such as: media content and materials, webinars, social campaigns, completed therapy sessions and the Mental Health Fun Fair. Our clinical staff holds training and associate or full licensure that require accountability with logging hours, gaining yearly Continuing Education Units and State Board regulatory practices. The 501c3 status that our organization holds also makes us beholden to reporting and fiscal transparency. Within our program, we have built in bookkeeping, data and tracking softwares, and accountability tools and measurements for easy access to reporting and data. The numbers of sessions, quarterly and yearly focus groups are also tools and tells of transparency. This will continue through the program and beyond. |
| If successful, how would your project benefit the community? | This project’s success benefits the community in many ways. Using our social media and content platforms to connect with influencers and health professionals within our community and at large allows our program to provide both visibility, investment, and healing to a pandemic ridden community. Hiring skilled staff looking for innovative ways to engage in the community, as well as prioritizing local artists and visual talent helps build the economic infrastructure in affected communities and social capital and buy-in. While our program does tailor content to low-resource communities - all are invited to participate as there is need. The programming builds a community feel creating a closer and more supportive environment for healing. The therapy services directly address the effects of the pandemic within the community . Providing therapy for reduced rates and making it accessible and affordable is ultimately what brings true change in the family unit microcosms and the community at large. The mental freedom from negative emotionality, grief, and stress helps create a stronger community. A strong and mentally healthy community promotes a more viable workforce, empowered rising community leaders, and strengthened resilience of the lives that make our community great. |
| How will you attract community buy-in for your project? | Community buy-in is accomplished in several ways. We attract buy-in through: Visibility and Recruitment - Ensuring clients and referrals are at the heart of our program (e.g.; we subscribe to popular listservs like Psychology today, Boris L Henson Foundation…etc). Targeted marketing & ads - utilizing the socials, radio, tv and media our community often engages with. Intentional content creation - Engaging viewers and our target audience, building trust and social capital. Contracting and creating deliverables - Prioritizing and centering community voices for visible parts of our campaigns and programming. Networking and Community Engagement - Intentionally connecting with potential clients/sources and seeking understanding of their barriers and needs. Partnerships and Influence - Connecting to the community by developing meaningful relationships with stakeholders and community leaders for the furtherance of the program and access for community members. |
| Name | Breanca Smith |
| Contact Information | therapistbre@thinksuspire.com |
| Name | Kinnawa Kaitbi |
| Contact Information | kinnawa@africanthunderinc.com |
| Name | Tylis Green |
| Contact Information | tylis@live.com |
| Name | Johnny Martin |
| Contact Information | youngyogaletts@gmail.com |
| Is there anything else you would like us to know about your project? | This project was born out of a desire to see mental health and the tech world connect. I, founder and Executive Director Jeigh Billingybegan this program after working with or alongside almost every major nonprofit organization or community based mental health organization in Chattanooga. I saw a major gap in the services, the professionals, and the connection to destigmatized individualized mental health. In my early childhood through high-school and into college I studied, taught, wrote and performed art, music, and drama/theatre. I completed my Emergency Management Technician education as a senior in highschool and then my Bachelors in Social work (after completing my pre-reqs in Nursing and deciding it wasn’t for me). Later, after being a part of a traumatic fire that ended my stint as a programming director at a summer camp I’d been to for 8+ years; I earned my Master’s degree in Social Work with an emphasis in Emergency Management and Trauma from Southern Adventist University. I lived trauma, I studied trauma and addressing it head-on became a mission. While I understood trauma, it was really through my work with trauma ridden First Responders and trauma ridden community members that I realized the conversation for mental health had to transcend beyond that of mere “service provision”. Clients and professionals alike all detach and turn to media and social media to allay the stress and fear of the day-to-day. I realized, through my work in the community, that access to these points was equally as complicated because of financial constraints, stigma, or lack of qualified and diverse professionals in service areas. This program is a very specific gap funnel that addresses the need of more diverse and inclusive mental health positive media as well as direct access to service provision - mitigating the hoops that can become detterrants to client follow through. This program partners with artists, content creators and media professionals bringing them together into the world of science, academia and mental health. Very rarely do these spaces intersect without stigma. It is humbling and exciting to present to our Chattanooga community a very needed and rare opportunity to engage highly technical media with highly clinical mental health to create much needed access to our community. Partners with this program include: Thunder Studios, TGreen Studios, Cage Fitness and Yoga Lounge, Protect Yo Mental…and other community based organizations that provide mental health or media services. |