COLORADO: Longmont Library Launches Well-Being Bags to Spark Conversations about Mental Health

August 10, 2018

News Type:  Weekly Spark, Weekly Spark News
Speaker:  Colorado

Daily Camera News

A Colorado library is offering a new resource to help patrons talk about mental health. The Longmont Public Library, in collaboration with the city’s Supporting Action for Mental Health initiative, has developed Well-Being Bags for adults and families to check out in two-week increments. The bags contain books, articles, films, and music with mental health-related themes, and a conversation guide to help generate discussion. The adult Well-Being Bags also include information on stress reduction techniques, and the bags for families have content to engage children and teens. According to initiative coordinator Julie Phillips, the resource aims to help people talk about mental health on their own terms and feel less alone in their struggles. “Hopefully these folks can identify with the stories, or as family members and friends, identify with the people in these stories and say ‘There’s someone else who is experiencing what I am experiencing,'” she said.

Spark Extra! Learn more about Supporting Action for Mental Health.