Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Nonprofit trying to tackle Nevada’s mental illness crisis

To join

To become a member of the Nellie Bly Leadership Society, visit CCCofSN.org or call 702-369-8700.

By the numbers

• 89,000 adults and 28,000 children: The estimated number of Nevadans who live with serious mental illness, a 2010 National Alliance on Mental Illness study found.

• 43.8 million: The estimated number of adults in the United States who experienced diagnosable mental illness last year, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

When a Las Vegas couple ambushed and killed two Metro Police officers earlier this year, the wheels started turning in Terry Guesman’s head.

The perpetrators’ actions likely were the result of mental health issues, he said.

As development director of the Community Counseling Center of Southern Nevada, Guesman knew the pitfalls of mental health care in the region — scarce resources, long wait lists, a lack of education — but he also understood what could help: money.

“There needs to be a concentrated effort of funders,” he said.

The idea turned into a conversation with Community Counseling Center staff and two local business leaders, who together decided to form a “giving society” named after Nellie Bly, a journalist who uncovered abuse in the 1880s at a mental health institution in New York.

“We think Nellie Bly is the perfect embodiment of the kind of Las Vegans who would want to support the largest nonprofit mental health agency in Las Vegas — the Community Counseling Center of Southern Nevada,” Guesman said.

The Nellie Bly Leadership Society, which launched this month with a fundraising event at Fizz Las Vegas in Caesars Palace, will work like this: People or households donating $1,000 or more will earn membership and be privy to special programs hosted by the society. Businesses that donate at least $2,000 will be members, as well.

All money donated will go toward services for clients suffering from mental health or substance abuse issues, Guesman said. The society hopes to raise $160,000 in the first year, which would allow the Community Counseling Center to hire four people.

Executive Director Ron Lawrence said the Community Counseling Center served 3,200 people this fiscal year, but he’s certain the need is far greater. The center’s wait list grew to 150 people at one point, and clients typically have to wait a month or two for appointments, he said.

The nonprofit’s challenges are indicative of a statewide problem. Nevada recently ranked No. 49 nationally for access to mental health care in a report by Mental Health America.

The Community Counseling Center staff hopes the Nellie Bly Leadership Society can spur awareness and eradicate the stigma associated with mental illness.

“Not a lot of folks understand what happens at the street level,” said Lawrence, who founded the Community Counseling Center in 1990. Among the questions that need to be answered: “What do treatment people do? What are the types of impairments in mental health? How can we understand them, and how can we help others?”

People suffering from mental illnesses often realize they’re not coping as well as others around them, but they generally don’t know why, Lawrence said. Addressing mental illness ultimately leads to a safer and more productive community, Guesman said.

“What we’re doing is taking the spirit of Nellie Bly just a little bit further,” Lawrence said. “We’re letting the memory of her empower us to change what we see around us in the way of mental health services. We want it to be the best.”

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