Join us for an enlightening afternoon at the “It’s Time to Check on Your Buddy Event 2024,” where we delve into the crucial topics of mental health and well-being. Organized by PEMHS, with insightful speakers from BayCare and Operation PAR, this event is dedicated to shedding light on depression, anxiety, time management, and substance use, with a special focus on nurturing children’s mental health.

Set in the serene Hilton St. Petersburg Carillon Park, this gathering is more than just an event—it’s a movement towards understanding, compassion, and support for those around us. Whether you’re a concerned parent, a dedicated educator, or simply a caring friend, you’ll find valuable resources and knowledge to help you become a beacon of hope in someone’s life.

Mark your calendars for Thursday, May 9th, 2024, from 2 PM to 4 PM, and be part of a community that’s striving to make a difference. Let’s come together to learn, support, and inspire. Your presence matters in the journey to brighter futures. See you there!

Save the Date!

2022 Mental Health
Awareness Event

PEMHS’s Mental Health Awareness Event is a wonderful opportunity to continue the powerful conversation about mental health and its impact on overall wellness.

New Date:

Thursday, November 3, 2022
Registration begins at 6:00 p.m.

Or Scan

Giving Tuesday Fundraiser

Dear community friend,

Our Building the Future Fundraiser has been a success. We received a strong community response and support and raised more than $25,000.00. We could not have met our goal without the help of people like you.

In appreciation of your donation, we would like to thank you for supporting our cause. Our clients will immensely benefit from the funds raised.

Thank you for your sponsorship!

From crisis to wellness, one step at a time!

The purpose of the new PEMHS Campus Master Plan is to provide the children of our community with a new and modern crisis unit, and PEMHS core community partners with a community diversion center as a direction for new and improved facilities, and to better accommodate their existing mental health services and programs. This plan also intends to provide additional services, through PBHSOC (Pinellas Behavioral Health System of Care) Community Partners to be located on the PEMHS campus.
The goal of this collaboration as stated in the Wellness Connection partnership, developed by the community stakeholders of the PBHSOC, is to improve access to appropriate behavioral health care treatment, and follow-up wrap-around services. This, in turn, will reduce the utilization of hospital emergency departments, jails, prisons, and homeless programs.
By separating the new children’s unit in a state-of-the-art community diversion center building, PEMHS will allow for a more children-centered, more therapeutic, and wellness-conducing environment for a faster and long-term recovery and well-being of our children. A new 20 bed Children’s CSSU will be designed to enhance the therapeutic environment, allow for the separation of young children and older youths, provide adequate space for assessment, and provide additional space for therapeutic recreation.
The intended result of community partner collaboration is to provide a centralized receiving facility with community diversion services. PEMHS is referring to this facility as the Community Diversion Center. The Center will provide Pinellas County with a centrally located, 24/7 intake facility for law enforcement, voluntary and involuntary intake, assessment, and referral. The facility will address the needs of both Mental Health and Substance Abuse patients.
In the near future, PEMHS plans to improve our existing Crisis Stabilization Units through extensive renovations and improvements.
All of the above is intended to begin the process towards an overall wellness-oriented collaboration that helps meet the needs of our children and adults for mental health services in Pinellas County by engaging the providers, residents, and communities in Pinellas County and to promote and provide more effective and comprehensive mental health services using a no-wrong-door approach.

Walking With Mike Fundraiser

On March 20th my good friend Mike took his own life. Mike was the type of friend who supported all my endeavors. He understood my intentions and always listened with his heart. Mike taught me what it’s like to have a good friend and to be a good friend. I am a better person for knowing him. Mike leaves behind a beautiful and strong family.
Suicide is the 8th leading cause of death in the state of Florida. “The only thing more exhausting than being depressed is pretending that you’re not.”
Depression and other mental illnesses are crippling our community. We need more awareness and better resources.
On May 26th I am embarking on a journey. I am going to walk the entire Pinellas trail to help raise awareness for mental illness and the countless people who are suffering from depression, PTSD, anxiety, and OCD.
I am going to hike the entire 50.1 miles trail in one day. I chose this challenge because it will be an opportunity for me to listen to with my heart so that I can carry on the tradition of what it means to be a good friend.
My goal is to raise 5,000 dollars for “Personal Enrichment Through Mental Health Services of Pinellas County” in honor of Mike Polasky.
Can you help me reach this goal?
There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.
Feel free to run, walk or ride beside me on May 26th.

Walking With Mike

100% of the proceeds will be donated to http://pemhs.org

Departing at 5 am from 1st Ave SE & Bayshore Dr in St.Pete on May 26th – rain or shine

My journey will begin in St. Petersburg and end at the Pasco County line

All are welcomed to join.
As always thank you for your support!
Sincerely Your Friend,

John

Wishing Wellness
Virtual Fundraiser 2020

We thank you for your generous donations. In times like these, even a small contribution makes a big difference.

You can still donate at http://pemhs.org/donate/

Holiday Lane 2020

Needless to say, Holiday Lane was a success again! Courtney had help though, Santa and his Elf came straight from the North Pole. There is no one better than Courtney herself, Santa’s Largo liaison, to tell you about it:

From Courtney:

It is with tremendous joy that PEMHS Community Intervention and Prevention Family Services assisted with 512 Families this year at Holiday Lane. For the past decade we have typically served about 325 families, and this year the need was far greater, however so was the outpouring of support from both within our own agency and within the community. Due to the unprecedented place we find ourselves this year, many changes from our normal processes had to be developed- Helena and Taj did a great job creating our first-ever online registration. So good in fact, it will remain. All staff were put on one of 4 teams (Jingle Bell, Kris Kringle, Elf Helpers, and Sleighers) and had assigned days and times to keep lower numbers and social distancing in place- Holiday Lane was cleaned, organized, and stocked and then each individual registration was shopped for by a staff member; all items were put into a big black contractor bag and a Santa tag tied to it with the corresponding name and registration #. Each family received useful community resources, a community holiday card created by the Seminole Girl Scout Troop 1305 (they earned their Silver Badge with this community activity), a case of food, a roll of wrapping paper, toys, stuffed animal, stocking stuffers, new socks and underwear, clothes and shoes if we had their sizes. We also had 15 raffle items and some lucky families received flat-screen TVs, gaming systems, bikes, and a rotisserie- all items in Holiday Lane are dependent on donations received throughout the year. The Community staff, PEMHS, and community partners, and others really came through in a big way to support this grassroots effort, and it truly represents the saying- It Takes a Village!! Patrick McKee was our perfect Santa again this year and the kids were practically jumping out of the car to get a closer look/encounter with him, as it was a drive-through event for pick up, and even with all the changes, Santa helped to normalize it all, and the fabulous Jerry Bray serenaded us during the Family Night with beautiful soft holiday guitar selections, several high school volunteers assisted as well.

The numbers aren’t official yet, but roughly over 2000 individuals were assisted and over 5200 meals were distributed!!!

HUGE thanks to all!!!! It is a group effort in every way, but special shout outs are due for John Varley and Taj Jackson who did an amazing job troubleshooting any and all needs for us for the entire prep, shopping, and delivery and pick up.

Wishes for an awesome 2021 for all!

Holiday Lane 2019

Holiday Lane Market Place 2019 was a fantastic success. As a result of our dedicated staff, generous co-workers, agency, and our board; as well as the resounding response from our community partners, and those in the community each of us interface with throughout our lives and asked if they would be willing to assist. We had the pleasure of new first time volunteers and our volunteers that have come year after year- we restructured our Family Night to be more like a block party and it was a joyous success for all; snowball making, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, holiday craft, Santa visits, corn hole, and Jerry Bray serenading all, while the parents shopped. We were able to raffle off the most items ever in our 10 years. But most importantly we were able to serve those in need of some holiday spirit in a dignified and supportive- PEMHS way. Much thanks to all that assisted in this year’s Holiday Lane Market Place- Gentle Peace and Good Will to all in 2020

Over 300 Families supported
Over 900 Children assisted
Total served through HLMP 1279
Meals given out 2136

Partners coming together to provide HLMP 2019:

Community Health Centers-major toy and HLMP donations
Anona and Oakhurst Elementaries- school wide donations
Pinellas County Government employees– 13 brand new bikes
Price Waterhouse Financial Dept. in Tampa sent volunteers every day to assist the shoppers
JWB donated over 200 brand new books and staff donations
Tutterow Dance Academy Families- volunteered and shared multiple donations
PEMHS Board of Directors shared donations
Publix Grocer donated the plastic bags
Preserve Vision- filled a collection box
Frida’s Bakery- donated Sweet Treats for the Family Event
Intercultural Advocacy Center- filled a collection box
Center for Deaf & Hard of Hearing- created all our Family Night craft kits
Healthy Families- filled a collection box
PEMHS Staff
PACE Awards Donations
Susan Trailor Wellness Ministries- Baby and Household Items
Judy Barry retired Social Worker- 50 hand knitted dolls and stuffed animals
****Patrick Santa Extraordinaire!!!****
GA Foods and the State’s Attorney Food Program
Creative Images Hair Design- filled a collection box
LYFT Academy- filled a collection box
Anona Methodist Church Young Adult Group – donations and volunteer hours

Courtney Covington, MS

Director of Family and Community Services

PEMHS, Palm Way Campus

Pacesetters Awards

2019 PACESETTER AWARDS CEREMONY ZERO SUICIDE

The Pacesetter Awards has a long tradition of acknowledging the best in our community that have made a significant contribution to mental health. In 2019 the theme is “Zero Suicide,” which comes from the Suicide Prevention Resource Center‘s initiative to end suicide. “Zero Suicide” presents an aspirational challenge and practical framework for transformation toward safer suicide care.

The Zero Suicide framework is defined by a system-wide, organizational commitment to safer suicide care in health and behavioral health care systems. It represents a culture shift away from fragmented suicide care toward a holistic and comprehensive commitment to patient safety—the most fundamental responsibility of health care.

Core elements include:

Leadingsystem-wide culture change committed to reducing suicides
Training a competent, confident, and caring workforce
Identifying individuals with suicide risk via comprehensive screening and assessment
Engaging all individuals at-risk of suicide using a suicide care management plan
Treating suicidal thoughts and behaviors using evidence-based treatments
Transitioning individuals through care with warm hand-offs and supportive contacts
Improving policies and procedures through continuous quality improvement

Zero Suicide is a call to relentlessly pursue a reduction in suicide and improve the care for those who seek help.

Employee Fitness Fair

On May 1st 2019 PEMHS participated in PAR, PEMHS and Boley Fitness Fiesta – Health Fair, with over 30 vendors and representatives form various wellness organizations. Employees had the opportunity to complete many important health screenings free of charge, receive free goods and participate in a raffle with many valuable prizes.