Oklahoma Nonprofit Spreading Awareness Of Mental Health, Substance Abuse Resources

An Oklahoma non-profit is partnering with other organizations to provide mental health and substance abuse resources to areas across northeast Oklahoma.

Through the Hope on Wheels bus tour, leaders with Parents Helping Parents, Inc. said they heard from people living in rural communities about a lack of resources or options for support.

That issue led to the creation of this joint effort, and now organizations such as Grand Mental Health, Stonegate Center, and the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services have all partnered to make stops in 7 towns across northeast Oklahoma.

During those stops, anyone can show up and learn about the different resources they have in their area regarding things such as mental health or substance abuse that they might not have known about.

"We’ve got a bag just stuffed full of different resources, and we're really hoping that it will make people aware," director of marketing and outreach for Parents Helping Parents, Inc. Tara Carr said. "I mean a lot of people in these communities are aware of the problem. They just don’t know where to go for help."

This is the first time Parents Helping Parents, Inc. has done a bus tour like this, and even if the resources that people might need aren't available in their town, the group's one goal is to let people know of resources that might be available in nearby towns.

"This is not only going to help them realize that if there’s not a specific clinic that somebody needs in Wagoner, well maybe it’s 20 miles up the road in the town next-door," Carr said. "Although that’s not super ideal, at least they have an option. So we’re just trying to make people aware of what’s available to them."

The bus tour will run April 18 and 19. On April 18, the bus tour will make the following stops:

1. 11:00a.m. - 11:45 a.m. in Sapulpa (24 South Poplar St.)
2. 12:45 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. in Bartlesville (330 Southeast Adams Blvd.)
3. 3:00 p.m. - 3:45 p.m. in Nowata (325 South Ash St.)
4. 4:30 p.m. - 5:15 p.m. in Claremore (400 Veterans Parkway)

On April 19, the bus tour will make the following stops:

1. 9:45 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. in Wagoner (111 Northeast 2nd St.)
2. 11:00 a.m. - 11:45 a.m. in Muskogee (501 North Main St.)
3. 2:00 p.m. - 2:45 p.m. in Shawnee (2307 South Gordon Cooper Drive)