MOSES LAKE — The Mind Matters Mental Health and Behavioral Health Workshop will explore a wide range of related topics March 26 at Big Bend Community College. 

“It's very broad and wide kind of across the whole spectrum of our mental and behavioral health system,” said Rhyanne Berryman, a facilitator for the Grant County Coalition for Health Improvement, or CHI. “It covers a lot of things.” 

The event is free and open to the public, although pre-registration is requested. Attendees can register online until March 23, Berryman said. 

The keynote speaker will be Bethany Thrasher, immediate past president of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI, for north central Washington. She’ll talk about personal mental health and wellness. 

“Mental and behavioral health is a human thing, not a priority population thing,” Berryman said. “(It’s) something that we all have and we all experience. We all experience hard days. We all experience loss and grief.” 

After the keynote address, there will be two breakout sessions, “Building Strong Foundations: Prevention and Early Intervention” and “Recognizing Crisis: When Immediate Help Is Needed.” They’ll take place at the same time, so attendees can pick which to attend. 

Lunch will be a box lunch provided by Michael’s Market & Bistro, Berryman said. The lunch period will also give attendees a chance to network and chat with both professionals and community members.  

Following lunch, there will be four more breakout sessions to choose from: “Navigating the System: Getting Help & Overcoming Barrier,” “Recovery & Sustained Wellness: Long-Term Support,” “Supporting Transitions: Perinatal Mental Health” and “Community Action: Reducing Stigma.” The breakout sessions are led by panels of professionals. 

The purpose of Mind Matters is to bring professionals and people interested in mental and behavioral health all together in one venue, Berryman said.  

“We had the goal to bring together people in our community around these topics, because there was kind of a gap for that in an in-person setting,” Berryman said. “There’s lots of resource forums and places that people can meet online on a monthly basis, but not for larger gatherings. CHI … can help foster collaboration and bring solutions from the community.”