Promoting Health and Safety

Promoting Health & Safety

From Nancy Gannon Hornberger, CEO

This month, SAY San Diego brings awareness to two very important issues – mental health screening and domestic violence prevention. October 5, 2017 marks National Depression Screening Day, when we encourage all San Diegans to check in with their emotional well-being. Mental and emotional health are just as important as physical health, but can be harder to address. The countywide It’s Up 2 Us Campaign, reports that one in five adult San Diegans suffer from a diagnosable mental health challenge and nearly one out of every five children experience some degree of an emotional or behavioral difficulty. Too often, people do not seek professional care and support, or give support, because of the stigma that is associated with having a mental illness. With this post and by participating, we encourage everyone to pay attention to signs of depression in loved ones and in ourselves.

In October, SAY San Diego draws attention to Domestic Violence Awareness, a focus that we have all year long. Domestic and family violence sadly affect tens of thousands of San Diegans every year, and are root causes identified in one of every five homicide cases in our County. In recent years, SAY San Diego has increased its focus on preventing, identifying and building up a comprehensive network of intervention resources in the area of domestic violence prevention, to assist our clients. We hope that you will join the conversation about prevention and crisis intervention by joining SAY staff in wearing purple on October 19, to show support for victims and survivors of domestic violence.

At SAY San Diego, our vision is opportunity, equity and well-being for all San Diegans. Our dedicated staff provide critical support in areas such as substance abuse prevention, mental health counseling, child abuse prevention, juvenile delinquency prevention, and youth development. We are proud to offer services and resources that prevent mental health and domestic violence crises, and enable residents of our community to overcome some of life’s biggest challenges.