Michigan moms create social media page supporting families in crisis
(CBS DETROIT) - For months, CBS Detroit has been highlighting the mental health crisis that many young people are facing today.
One thing found is that in Michigan, access to resources can be difficult, or depending on where you live, may not even be available. Three moms, however, founded a social media page that has become more of a support group for families with youth in crisis.
"I have three boys and my middle son has some very significant behavioral challenges," said Laura Marshall.
Three Michigan mothers are struggling. They're facing a crisis alone.
"Our family was in crisis, we didn't know what to do," said Michelle Massey Barnes.
"We tried to get help, first through our school district and had been failed there and then went through our insurance company and insurance wasn't covering appropriate care so we were paying out of pocket for very expensive services," said Rachel Cuschieri-Murray.
Through mutual contacts, the three women realized they were dealing with the very same significant issue: kids experiencing a mental health crisis with little to no resources available for help. So they got on the phone and started talking.
"I don't even remember how long that initial phone call was between the three of us but I think it may have gone on for a little while because we couldn't talk fast enough to say all the things," said Marshall.
They noticed all the things that they have in common.
"[We] found out so quickly that we share the same values, we share the same heart of fixing the system, yes, for our own individual children and families but not just that like, you know it needs to be fixed so that not one other child is failed so horribly through the current system," said Marshall.
The moms decided to team up and create a private support group for families in crisis on social media.
"This is what's happening to our children. It's one thing when 3 moms get together and say it. It's something different when 500 people say it together," said Massey Barnes. "We're across counties and we around the state and we start to see similarities in stories, we start to see similarities in outcomes, and we start to see similarities in what the contributing factors are that are keeping families in crisis."
The goal of the group is simple to support and to advocate.
"At the most basic level, I think that it has allowed so many families across the state a safe place to speak, to be heard, and literally sometimes just to breathe," said Marshall.
"It's really nice to feel heard because when you go on this path there are so many people who will dismiss what you're going through or tell you that it's not happening and so being understood without having to say a word is priceless," said Cuschieri-Murray.
"Advocacy is the antidote to despair and for me that has really been true. Learning how to advocate for my family, learning how to help others advocate for their children, it has been something that has helped me keep hope for my situation and hope that we can change this so maybe other families don't have to keep going through it," said Massey Barnes.
Together, they're finding support on the social media platform.
"We're not just out there complaining and oh, this all terrible and everyone needs to be fired and lose their job. We're saying that this is what our experience has been but this is where we think it could go, this could change, this could improve. Let us help identify some ways and some solution to making those changes," said Marshall.
So that these strangers, turned friends, turned family can make finding help easier for those to follow.
"It really feels good to me to know that anything that we are doing is creating a positive change, even if it's small, there are people that have benefitted from the work that we are doing," said Cuschieri-Murray.
"So this network is helping us understand what the real problems are, what the core of the problems are and I hope we're able to use that information to make some of the changes that we really need to see happen," said Massey Barnes.
"Throughout all of this we absolutely need to maintain that sense of hope that we're doing this for a reason and that there is hope that things can change and that we will change them," said Marshall.
You can find the mom's website here. A public page for families in crisis, can be found here.