WKTV Staff

news@wktv.org

On this week’s episode of In Focus, host Ken Norris and WKTV Journal drills down into two important mental health issues in Kent County, first with the Be Nice youth mental health program, and then with the director of Network180, the county’s mental health provider and an organization currently cutting services due to state funding issues.

Christy Buck, executive director of the Mental Health Foundation of West Michigan, talks about the foundation’s Be Nice program, an effort to reach into local schools, and to reach local students on a personal level, with the message of how they can become part of the solution to youth suicide.

The program Be Nice is based on four elements/actions corresponding to the letters in NICE: Notice, Invite, Challenge and Empower. And, Buck stresses in part of the interview, the challenge part is a two-way challenge.

“It is absolutely a two-way challenge, and that sometimes is the sticking point, where, if I don’t challenge that person and empower them” then they will not respond, Buck said. “They need to understand, it is a physical illness. If you want to get better, you have got to take some steps towards that. You cannot force people. But when someone sees that you care enough to notice and invite (discussion), it leads to empowerment.”

Also on the program is Scott Gilman of Network180, and he talk about what impact a current funding crisis will have on the people they serve. For WKTV’s latest story on the funding issue, visit here.

The entire episode of “WKTV Journal: In Focus” airs on cable television in the Wyoming and Kentwood areas on Comcast WKTV Channel 26 and on AT&T Channel 99 Government channel.

The episode will continue its two week run Today, Thursday, Feb. 1, at 6:30 p.m. and conclude its run Tuesday, Feb. 5, at 6:30 p.m., and Thursday, Feb. 7, also at 6:30 p.m., on WKTV channels but all interviews included in episodes of WKTV Journal: In Focus are also available on YouTube at WKTVVideos.