United Way of Greater Knoxville Young Leaders' Collective

Our next , covering early care and education in Knoxville, is next Wednesday! Click the link to learn more and sign up. We hope to see you there! https://www.uwgk.org/young-leaders-collective/

Thank you to our friends at and for leading our discussion on Mental Health today, and thank you to everyone who joined us in-person and virtually for this important conversation!

Learn how to be a more effective ally to the LGBTQIA community in 5 easy steps.

We are so excited to have Daniel Watson joining us from The Restoration House. He will be a panelist in The Uncomfortable but Necessary Series about mental health in Knoxville later this month.

A little about Daniel:
Daniel graduated with his BA from Johnson University. After seven years serving as an Associate Minister of Outreach, Daniel and his wife, launched The Restoration House, a Christ-centered nonprofit dedicated to holistically empowering low-income single mother families to break the cycle of poverty.

Over the last eight years Daniel has developed The Village, a restorative community for single mother families, helped develop local, regional, and national networks to share best practices, and has consulted with over twenty-seven organizations across seven states in best practices and organizational development.

In 2020, Daniel was elected to the Knox County Board of Education where he currently serves to increase opportunities for our all of our students.

His heart is that we would all be more effective, realizing greater impact in our homes, schools, and communities.

To hear Daniel and our other panelists speak, consider joining us at our upcoming hybrid event. Click here to register:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/uncomfortable-but-necessary-series-mental-health-in-knoxville-1-tickets-342769020367

We are thrilled to have Ben Harrington join us for The Uncomfortable but Necessary Series coming up later this month about mental health in Knoxville. Ben is the CEO of the Mental Health Association of East Tennessee.

A little bit more about Ben:
Ben Harrington, MA Ed, has worked in non-profit health for more than 30 years, including 28 years as the CEO of the Mental Health Association of East Tennessee, which he has worked at since 1994. After 4 years in the chronic physical health arena, Ben moved to the Mental Health Association of Greater Knoxville which would later become the Mental Health Association of East Tennessee. The agency name was changed to serve persons from the Georgia to Virginia boarders and all communities in between. Switching jobs helped him realize how personally connected he is to mental health issues which affect so many. His passion to intervene earlier and in more impactful ways led to the creation of two of our signature programs – the Mental Health 101 program in Fall of 2000 and the Peer Recovery Call Center in 2013. Ben is married to Norma Harrington. They have two sons Donovan and Jackson and two “fur babies” Baxter Bugtussell (a Jack Russell) and Lady Violet (a Goldendoodle). He earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History from Heidelberg University and a Master of Arts Degree in Education Counseling & Guidance from Bowling Green State University.

To hear more about Ben and our other panelists, consider joining us for our hybrid event later this month. To register, click here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/uncomfortable-but-necessary-series-mental-health-in-knoxville-1-tickets-342769020367

Just a week until The Uncomfortable but Necessary Series focused on Mental Health here in Knoxville! This session will lay a foundation, covering the importance of mental health education and treatment and the reality that these resources are not equitably distributed in our community. We will three experts help lead the conversation on our panel:
Ben Harrington, CEO at Mental Health Association of East Tennessee
Daniel Watson, Executive Director at The Restoration House
Howard Chapman, Clinical Manager at Cherokee Health Systems

and the panel will be moderated by
Emily Ellis, Licensed Professional Counselor at Middle Path's Intensive Outpatient Program.

We are truly looking forward to this conversation and hope you'll join.
Click here to pre-register:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/uncomfortable-but-necessary-series-mental-health-in-knoxville-1-tickets-342769020367

We are so excited to have Emily Ellis join us for The Uncomfortable but Necessary Series as our moderator. This event will focus on mental health here in Knoxville.

A little bit about Emily:
Emily Ellis is a Licensed Professional Counselor with the Mental Health Service Provider designation. She received her Master’s in Mental Health Counseling from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Emily has previously worked at Parkridge Valley Psychiatric Hospital, Youth Villages, Brookhaven Residential Facility, and in private practice. Emily currently provides mental health services at the Middle Path's Intensive Outpatient Program as a certified dialectical behavior therapist treating individuals with severe suicidal ideations and self harm behaviors.

To hear more about Emily and our 3 panelists, consider joining us for our upcoming hybrid event. Click here to register:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/uncomfortable-but-necessary-series-mental-health-in-knoxville-1-tickets-342769020367

The month of June is LGBTQIA Pride Month. It actually commemorates the Stonewall riots in Manhattan in 1969 and rallies support for the LGBTQIA community. To learn more about the history of this amazing movement, click here: https://bit.ly/YLC-PrideHistory

Communities across the country hold parades, workshops, celebrations, and concerts. Marches for civil rights and awareness take place.

The month is a time for remembering those who paved the way for the LGBTQIA community and who continue to do so. It’s a time for education and breaking down barriers, too. Look back at the changes and see what more work still needs to be done.

We would love to have you join us for our Growth Group Session tomorrow! This is a great opportunity to learn more about food insecurity in our community and action items to get involved. We'd love to see you tomorrow evening at Schulz Bräu Brewing Company!