SMETHPORT — The McKean County Commissioners on Tuesday proclaimed May as Mental Health Awareness Month in the county.
Newly-appointed Commissioner Tom Kreiner, attending his first official commissioners’ public meeting, read the proclamation that promotes awareness and understanding of mental health and says in part, “All Americans experience times of difficulty and stress in their lives, and promotion and prevention are effective ways to reduce the burden of mental health conditions.
“And while there is a strong body of research that supports user-friendly tools that all Americans can access to better handle challenges and protect their health and well-being. With effective treatment, those individuals with mental health conditions can recover and lead full, productive lives.”
Maggie Travis, STEPS coordinator, attended with personnel from the STEPS Drop-In Center in Bradford, a consumer-run mental health program of The Guidance Center that offers social, recreational and support opportunities to community residents receiving mental health services. They were Terry Short, president; Victor Lee, vice president; and Annie Smith, secretary.
During the meeting, Short read “The Bell Story,” which briefly tells the meaning of the symbol of mental health.
The inscription on the bell reads: “Cast from shackles which bound them, this bell shall ring out hope for the mentally ill and victory over mental illness.”
According to the story, “During the early days of mental health treatment, asylums often restrained people who had mental illnesses with iron chains and shackles around their ankles and wrists. With better understanding and treatments, this cruel practice eventually stopped.
“In the early 1950s, Mental Health America issued a call to asylums across the country for their discarded chains and shackles. On April 13, 1956, at the McShane Bell Foundry in Baltimore, MD, Mental Health America melted down these inhumane bindings and recast them into a sign of hope: the Mental Health Bell.
Now the symbol of Mental Health America, the 300-pound bell serves as a powerful reminder that the invisible chains of misunderstanding and discrimination continue to bind people with mental illness. Today, the Mental Health Bell rings out hope for improving mental health and achieving victory over mental illness.
“Over the years, national mental health leaders and other prominent individuals have rung the bell to mark the continued progress in the fight for victory over mental illness.”
At the conclusion of the commissioners’ meeting STEPS personnel met in the courthouse lobby for a symbolic ringing of a bell that commemorates Smethport’s sesquicentennial.
