Christiane Williams started uploading videos about mental health to Facebook after she sought counseling in early 2020. She said she was not expecting her videos to gain attention, but after her third post, she received a message from a viewer thanking her for her transparency.
“The next words (she said were), ‘I almost gave it all up today until I heard you,’” Williams recounted.
That message led Williams on a path to found her organization, Leading By Example-MS, providing workshops focused on mental health awareness and resources available to Mississippians.
As a law enforcement officer in the Department of Corrections, part of Williams’ job is knowing points of entry, meaning in-patient mental health hospitals where the crisis intervention team can take a patient for treatment.
St. Dominic Hospital’s behavioral health services in Jackson was one of two points of entry in Mississippi, but the hospital announced on June 5 that it is closing its mental health unit and laying off 157 full-time, part-time and PRN employees—5.5% of its total staff—across its service areas.
The press release said this decision was to “best serve the patients of central Mississippi and ensure the long-term sustainability of St. Dominic’s” because the hospital lost “several million dollars” in the past five years.
Meeting Mental Health Needs ‘No Longer Viable’
St. Dominic Hospital CEO Scott Kashman said the hospital “recognize(s) that mental health is a significant need, with various aspects of mental healthcare emerging as six of the top 25 needs identified in the most recent Community Health Needs Assessment.”
“While continuing to meet these needs directly is no longer viable for St. Dominic’s, we are working with partners to help patients access the care they need,” Kashman said in the press release. “Our health system will continue to advocate for additional state and federal resources to stabilize health care providers in Mississippi.”
Kashman is leaving his position at the hospital on July 7, St. Dominic Hospital Director of Marketing Meredith Bailess told the Mississippi Free Press.
“We are appreciative of Scott’s commitment to the Jackson community and his leadership of our team through a
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