Mental Wellness Expo comes to Mankato

“It touches you individually -- and so it matters.”
The inaugural Never Give Up 2022 Expo for Mental Wellness on Dec. 13 hopes to bring awareness to those who’ve never before understood the issue.
Updated: Dec. 5, 2022 at 6:34 PM CST

MANKATO, Minn. (KEYC) - The inaugural Never Give Up 2022 Expo for Mental Wellness on Dec. 13 hopes to bring awareness to those who’ve never before understood the issue.

“You get connected to the first step and then all of a sudden the world opens up and mental health accessing services and mental health is the same way,” said Human Services Director of Business Operations at Blue Earth County Angela Youngerberg. “I mean, either you you just don’t know where to start and so you don’t and it’s scary and there’s all kinds of stigma and there’s self-worth stuff -- that’s all attached to it. But once you get connected, then getting connected with everything else is much easier, so this is about that first step for people.”

Sponsored by Blue Earth County Human Services, and funded through Grants by the South Central Community Based Initiative and the Minnesota Department of Human Services, the day begins with a workshop for mental wellness professionals, then an open-to-the-public fair offering mental wellness resources.

Concluding the day will be a speech from suicide survivor, Kevin Hines.

“He’s all about connecting and making relationships and so he’s up on stage speaking and he’s connecting with you,” added Youngerberg. “Because it’s either your brother or your neighbor your high school classmate -- whoever it might be that has been, you know affected by suicide. It touches you individually and so it matters and so it’s connecting both the relational aspect and the educational aspect in a space that is accepting. that’s what we’re looking for.”