A Good Day: The Mental Health Emergency Fund
At Monday Talent, doing good comes first. That’s why we’re excited to share our new monthly series—A Good Day. We’re featuring companies and individuals whose impact-driven work inspires us.
Our first is the amazing Jessica Smith, Founder of The Mental Health Emergency Fund.
What is your organization? Is there a specific target group?
The name of my organization is The Mental Health Emergency Fund (MHEF). Currently, our target market is marginalized people groups in the Baltimore area that are on the verge of or experiencing a mental health crisis, who have access to less than $1000 in an emergency fund. There is an application process and, depending on how much funding we have to give, we have awarded mental health stipends in the amounts of $1000, $500, and $250 to applicants. Money is to be used on talk therapy or other holistic wellness practices.
How did you get involved with this organization? If you are the founder, what drove you to start it?
I am the proud founder! My own lived experience with a mental health condition, coupled with my heart for philanthropy and social justice is what drove me to start MHEF. Additionally, I have picked up financial literacy skills throughout the journey and I’m passionate about educating my community on ways to budget and save for a rainy day.
What drew you to this mission?
At the end of 2018, I quit my full-time job at the age of 26 due to burnout and took a mental health sabbatical for 14 months. Fortunately, I had been aggressively building my savings account in case a job transition was coming my way and it indeed was.
I used my emergency fund to finance this sabbatical. I was diagnosed with PTSD and Generalized Anxiety Disorder and I needed to take some time to really heal and focus on myself instead of tending to everyone else around me. Using the wisdom I gleaned from my time off work, I wrote an E-book entitled, “How to Stretch Your Emergency Fund during a Crisis.” This ended up being right on time for the global crisis the world found itself in: the COVID-19 pandemic.
Once I was in a better place mentally, I knew I wanted to give back and share resources for people who might have found themselves in a similar situation.
What impact do you feel has been made through this org? What’s the biggest impact since your time there?
We have had some recipients of our programming tell us that the impact has been life-changing! Applicants have written to us for support and told us they were on their last leg; we were their last hope. We’re very grateful to be in the position to help save people’s lives.
Since August 2021, we have supplied $7500 in mental health support and have connected dozens of individuals and families to our work.
In 2022, we secured over $100K in funding to carry out various programs connected to this cause. I was one of 5 winners of a $25K grant from Cllctivly, The Family League of Baltimore and Morgan State University’s Center for Urban Health Equity. Additionally, I competed for and received a 18-month fellowship with Open Society Institute- Baltimore, joining their 25th cohort. I’m the first Lois Blum Feinblatt Mental Health Fellow, in honor of Lois Blum Feinblatt, a therapist and community leader in the Baltimore area who recently passed this year at the age of 100.
And, most recently, I won a $10K grant to be in Baltimore Corps’ Elevation Awards cohort for 2023, where I’ll be using technology to increase access to mental health resources across the community.
I anticipate a great deal of impact to happen in 2023 and beyond as I implement the various program elements from these grants.
How can others get involved with your org? (Including individuals who don’t work for your org)
Partnering Therapists- We are always looking to expand our therapy directory. We’re currently looking for BIPOC therapists who are licensed in MD (particularly working with inner city youth and adults), with expertise in trauma-informed care. We definitely want to increase the number of men on our listings as well. With that, if there are therapists who can offer a few/several pro-bono sessions to our applicants, that would go such a long way. We wouldn’t need to raise additional funds in that case—we’d just need partners in the field who believe in the cause.
Partnering Youth Organizations- Our focus for 2023-2024 is serving youth organizations in Baltimore City. We are looking for organizations that have a team of 4+ youth leaders who can be equipped to carry out programming for the youth they serve. (One-person-led organizations are not within our target market at the moment).
Partnering Faith Communities- The topic of mental illness can be seen as taboo in many churches and faith communities. We’re looking to partner with organizations who are ready to have those tough conversations and address what they’ve been sweeping under the rug. We want to equip faith leaders with mental health education so they can better serve and support their congregations.
Subject-Matter Experts- We’re also in need of subject matter experts in the mental health space who would be willing to share their knowledge with us via podcast/style interviews. If there are podcasts or YouTube videos out there that speak to our demographic, please share them with us so we can build a robust resource library!
Donors/Sponsors- There is a lot of need out there and accessing therapy can be very expensive. We’re looking for generous hearts to sponsor sessions for our community members. We also have goals of getting more community members trained in Mental Health First Aid, so sponsoring the cost of that is of great need!
Facilitators- As we carry out various programming, we’ll need facilitators that are able to be trained to lead content and sessions. Social Work/Therapy backgrounds not required.
Supporters/Promoters- Any and all supporters are welcome! Please follow us on Instagram at www.instagram.com/MentalHealthEmergencyFund and like us on Facebook (same name). Share our posts and tag your network in anything we’re doing! If you want to get involved, shoot us an email at info@mentalhealthemergencyfund.org and sign up for our mailing list on our home page at www.mentalhealthemergencyfund.org
What’s your favorite book or podcast right now? Is there a reason why?
I just came across the “Dropping Gems” podcast with Devi Brown. It’s my new favorite already! She is the Chief Impact Officer at Chopra Global. I love how she’s a black woman who is well-versed in meditation, mindfulness and soul care. These are all topics that I resonate with and it’s just a breath of fresh air to hear someone using the language and concepts that I use to facilitate my own healing. Even if our approaches are different, it helps me to know that I’m not alone in this work.
What's your most recently played song on Spotify?
Admittedly, I’m not a Spotify or Apple Music girl because I’m a penny-pincher. I’m a Pandora girl—with the commercials and everything! I like it because 1.) I’ve had the account since college over 10 years ago and I’m reluctant to change and 2.) It allows me to find out about new artists based on the style of music I’m listening to. My top stations lately have been H.E.R. Radio and Snoh Aalegra Radio. (Side note/ plug: Catch the 30th anniversary version of Beauty and the Beast featuring H.E.R. as Belle if you haven’t yet!)
